NELLY

Reviews and Quotes

"Erotically charged in a way that fully conveys its subject's sexual and literary allure, the film seizes you and doesn't let go."
“Mylene Mackay delivers a star-making performance in the title role.”
– Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter
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"Engrossing"
"A Complex Portrait of a Woman on the Verge"
– Glenn Kenny, New York Times
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"The mask of depression suffocating Nelly's real emotions, limiting her ability to connect with the world, creates further difficulty. MacKay is impressive in her ability to work with these layers, letting neither pain nor playfulness overwhelm her character and giving us poignant glimpses of the person underneath."
- Jennie Kermode, Eye for Film
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"Émond doesn’t soften the blow, and she doesn’t milk the melodrama. Rather, she explores the many layers of nuance running through Arcan’s life — from her real writing talent and prescient portrayal of sex as a metaphor for so much more, to the unshakable emptiness that ultimately overwhelmed her."
- T’cha Dunlevy, Montreal Gazette

"Anne Émond’s Nelly eschews the traditional biopic structure to explore different facets of Arcan’s personality. Drawing from both her writing and general biographical information (often intentionally blurring the lines between the two), Émond weaves a portrait of Nelly the demure writer, Nelly the sex worker, Nelly the substance-abusing jealous lover and Nelly the celebrity. Not all of it is based in fact; not all of it has a direct correlation to Arcan’s fiction, either."
- Alex Rose, CULT Montreal

“Fascinating, it swallows and traps us”
- Chantal Guy, La Presse

“Sexy, libertine, neurotic, heartbreaking and hard-hitting, the new Anne Émond’s film hurts so much it hits the bull’ s eye”
- Elizabeth Lepage-Boily, Cinoche.com

DEADLINE HOLLYWOOD - French-Canadian Drama ‘Nelly’ Set For U.S. Release After Cinema Libre Studio Picks Up Rights
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THE GLOBE & MAIL - French-Canadian director Anne Émond (Nuit #1, Les êtres chers) has risen to the challenge of making a movie about one of Quebec's most loved and most hated public figures: bad-girl writer Nelly Arcan.
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TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL - Award-winning filmmaker Anne Émond (Nuit #1, Les êtres chers) returns to the Festival with this creatively imagined biopic of controversial Quebec writer Nelly Arcan, who scandalized the French literary world with her semi-autobiographical novel based on her experiences as a sex worker.
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IFC CENTER – CANADA NOW: Based on the life and electrifying writings of former sex worker-turned-bestselling novelist, Nelly Arcan (born Isabelle Fortier), acclaimed writer-director Anne Émond’s third feature film (Nuit #1, Our Loved Ones), NELLY, is a powerhouse drama of sexuality and solitude.
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MONTREAL GAZETTE - How do you approach a biopic of Quebec’s most famous prostitute? From multiple angles, if you’re Anne Émond. The writer-director circles her tragic protagonist — novelist Nelly Arcan, who committed suicide in 2009 at the age of 36 — in almost abstract fashion.
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MONTREAL GAZETTE - Anne Émond and Mylène Mackay approach Nelly Arcan from every angle
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