House of Tolerance

House of Tolerance French LApollonide Souvenirs de la maison close , also known as House of Pleasures, is 2011 French drama film directed by Bertrand Bonello, starring Cline Sallette, Hafsia Herzi, Jasmine Trinca, Adle Haenel, Alice Barnole, Iliana Zabeth and Nomie Lvovsky. The film premiered In Competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.

The genesis of the project was a merge of two film ideas Bertrand Bonello had been thinking of. About ten years earlier he had tried to make a film about modern brothels, but the project had been cancelled. After finishing On War from 2008, Bonello decided that he wanted his next film to be about dynamics within a group of females, and his partner suggested a film about prostitutes in a historical setting. The director then became interested in the aspect of a brothel as a closed world from the viewpoint of the prostitutes. The idea of a scar in the form of a smile came from the film The Man Who Laughs, an adaptation of Victor Hugos novel with the same name. Bonello says he dreamed about the film two nights in a row while he was writing House of Tolerance, and decided to include a female character with such a scar.The film was a coproduction between Les Films du Lendemain and the directors company My New Picture, in collaboration with Arte France Cinma. The production received 540,000 euro from the CNC and 416,000 euro from the ledeFrance region, as well as presales investment from Canal and CinCinma. The total budget was 3.8 million euro. Casting took almost nine months. Bonello wanted a mixed ensemble of both professionals and amateurs who above all worked well together as a group. ........

Source: Wikipedia