A high-class prostitute by choice, Nelly Arcan’s colorful life is recreated in a multi-layered and stylish mix of make-believe and memoir, revealing Nelly’s alter egos: the neurotic writer, the vulnerable lover, the call girl and the star. Nelly shocked the literary world with her elegant writing and the lurid details of sex work in her autobiographical first novel, Whore, which became a critically acclaimed bestseller. Despite unprecedented success, Nelly’s remarkable life ended in tragedy.
Acting
Mylène Mackay's shape-shifting brilliance—four women, one fractured psyche.
Direction
Anne Émond's refusal to let you settle into any single truth.
Editing
Reality and performance bleed together until you stop asking which is which.
Director
Anne Émond
Mylène Mackay
Nelly
Milya Corbeil-Gauvreau
Isabelle Fortier
Mickaël Gouin
François
Francis Leplay
Mathieu
Sylvie Drapeau
Suzanne
Catherine Brunet
Peggy
Emmanuel Schwartz
Guillaume Rival
Marie-Claude Guérin
Melina
Marc Béland
Psychanalist
Francis Ducharme
Journalist
Jason Cavalier
Client Toronto
Karelle Tremblay
Jeune livreuse
Leïla Thibeault-Louchem
Jade
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Arcan's 'Whore' sparked a Québec literary phenomenon; her suicide made her the tragic poster child for sex worker memoirs she never wanted to represent.
Director Émond cast four actresses to play Nelly before settling on Mackay doing it all—mirroring how Arcan herself fractured identity to survive.
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