While teenagers bought popcorn by the ton on their way into “Pirates of the Caribbean’’ last week, and fashion addicts clawed into “The Devil Wears Prada,’’ a different crowd lined up for a movie playing at two Manhattan art houses: “Heading South,’’ about older single women visiting 1970’s Haiti in a female version of sex tourism.

"The women in the film, in their late 40’s and 50’s, are spending a vacation at a resort where impoverished local beach boys serve as holiday gigolos. The teenagers devote themselves to nourishing the women’s starved libidos in exchange for food, gifts and temporary refuge from the perils of the island’s repressive regime.



A rave review by Stephen Holden in The New York Times called the movie “one of the most truthful examinations ever filmed of desire, age and youth.’’ Since it opened July 7, theaters have been packed with women about the same age as the ones on the screen. Some bought tickets in groups for a kind of middle-aged girls’ night out. Interviews indicated the movie has hit home with this audience because it affirms the sexual reality of women of a certain age, that even as they pass the prime of their desirability to men, libidos smolder. More than a few said they came seeking a hot night out.


Getting Your Groove On
“The whole notion of women’s sexuality fading away has disappeared,’’ said Marjorie Solovay, 63, a retired schoolteacher in Manhattan, after seeing “Heading South’’ on Wednesday. “Women’s sexuality carries on.’’



The next night a retired 62-year-old said: “Two friends of mine saw it over the weekend and said it is a must-see. They’re 60 and 72. It’s interesting that women feel they’re able to relate to it. So many movies are youth-oriented.’’



The film takes a hard look at the dearth of appropriate sexual partners for women like Ellen, its lead character, played by Charlotte Rampling, a single 55-year-old professor of French literature at Wellesley. Ellen says, “If you’re over 40 and not as dumb as a fashion model, the only guys who are interested are natural born losers or husbands whose wives are cheating on them.’’



Instead of passively drifting into a future of unwilled celibacy, however, Ellen and the other American women seek satisfaction in exotic places. A few viewers were put off by such desperate measures — with their implication of the exploitation of the black Haitian teenagers — and by the neediness of the women. But others supported the film’s message that a woman has a right to seek pleasure where she can find it.

“Single older women need to find a place to have sex,’’ said one filmgoer in her late 50’s who lives on the East Side but did not want to give her name. “If you’re at this point in your life, and you have needs, and you can make yourself feel good or whole, go for it, so long as you don’t hurt anyone.’’


In its first week on two screens in New York (it will open in other cities this summer), the movie has earned $56,000. Managers at the two theaters — Lincoln Plaza Cinemas on the Upper West Side and the Angelika in SoHo — said it is their highest grossing current film.


Ms. Rampling, who at 60 is still a woman of erotic allure, said by phone: “There’s an awful lot of pressure around the idea of a woman growing older and therefore losing that potential of being desirable, and that puts women into a situation where they feel almost embarrassed about the fact they don’t have the kind of bodies that young women have, or they don’t have the kind of sexual attraction that seems to go with a younger stage of their life.


“What does that mean, the fact that you’re older? It means that you’re not going to have the same kind of relationships you had when you were younger. I think we have to reinvent from a woman’s point of view another way of being.’’


Society often seems of two minds when it comes to older women and sex, in the view of the author Jane Juska, 73. Six years ago she placed a personal ad in The New York Review of Books stating her desire “to have a lot of sex with a man I like’’ and wrote a book, “A Round-Heeled Woman,’’ about what happened when the replies came in.


Ms. Juska, who had not seen “Heading South,’’ recalled by phone that she found a lot of support from people who read her book, but that criticism often sounded a lot like pity. “Opposition came in the form of, ‘I feel so sorry for you that you have to do this,’ ’’ she said.


The women in the movie, far from home, feel free to indulge in a hedonism without judgment, a liberation that some in the audience who have traveled on their own identified with. “When women travel abroad, they shed a lot of inhibitions and behave in ways they don’t behave at home,’’ said Bunny Goldstein, 62, a retired music teacher who saw the movie. “They live out of context.’’


The film takes a hard look at the dearth of appropriate sexual partners for women like Ellen, its lead character, played by Charlotte Rampling, a single 55-year-old professor of French literature at Wellesley. Ellen says, “If you’re over 40 and not as dumb as a fashion model, the only guys who are interested are natural born losers or husbands whose wives are cheating on them.’’


Copyright © 2006 The New York Times Company

I recently read an online article about one of the African countries having this type of tourism now. I can't for the life of me remember which country it was, sorry. But they said the flights into the country are packed with single English women and other women from Europe, searching for young men who are trying to earn money for their families. The hotels and resorts are trying to discourage it by hiring young men as tourism guides. It is a women's version of Thailand.

I'm seeing a double standard here. This film sounds as if it is advocating this behavior. I have never seen a documentary saying how wonderfull it is for middle aged men to go to the orient and exploit the poverty of young women.

lets just change the noun women to men and gigglo to prostitute

"The MEN in the film, in their late 40’s and 50’s, are spending a vacation at a resort where impoverished local beach GIRLS serve as holiday prostitues. The teenagers devote themselves to nourishing the MEN’s starved libidos in exchange for food, gifts and temporary refuge from the perils of the island’s repressive regime.

See now it doesn't sound so nice.

Lets face it a sex slave is a sex slave whether they are male or female.

I have not been able to see the film yet.

A couple of points

It is a fictional film, not a documentary. I'm not sure I am able to determine whether or not it is advocating the conduct, based upon one article in the newspaper. But beyond that, is "Saving Private Ryan" advocating war? Is "Pretty Woman" advocating prostitution? Is any Rob Scheinder film advocating anything?

As far as the double standard, I suppose one might make the argument, in the bigger picture, that what you propose is in many ways, what Hollywood has been feeding us for the last 50 years or so, both in movies and TV. Older, balding, over-weight men, bedding, or married to, younger attractive women. Many times young enough to be daughters or grand-daughters of the actors. It is very seldom that you even see a older woman showing sexual interest, much less with young studs. When those exceptions occur, it usually creates a buzz.

quote:

"The MEN in the film, in their late 40’s and 50’s, are spending a vacation at a resort where impoverished local beach GIRLS serve as holiday prostitues. The teenagers devote themselves to nourishing the MEN’s starved libidos in exchange for food, gifts and temporary refuge from the perils of the island’s repressive regime.

Kinda sounds like the Democratic and Republican conventions when you put it that way

Silk had I not made a vow to be a virgin when I got marrried I would have been the neighborhood MILF chaser.

I personally think that women really start to get sexy in thier 30'sand i have met women in thier 60's that were still red hot.

I remember one time I went to a freinds house for the first time and his sister let me in. She was really hot. The conversation went like this:

"Dude, why didn't you tell me you had a hot sister?"

"Sister? I don't have a sister"

"Well some hot chick let me in."

"MAN, That is my MOM!"

"Dude your mom is HOT! Is she divorced? You could call me daddy!"

The funny thing is that me and his mom actually became fairly close platonically. Had she been single I am pretty sure we would have hooked up.

quote:

The very nature of male anatomy does require a certain amount of cooperation and interest, if you get my point.

I'd have a stocked cachet of Cialis on hand just in case the demand outstripped the supply...