At a 26-day-long retreat for sex addicts, three hypersexual women are interviewed and observed in a remote house under the guidance of a therapist and a social worker. All three women – level-headed Léonie, impulsive Eugénie, and passive-aggressive Geisha – have voluntarily agreed to undergo this therapy. The aim of the experiment is to explore their sexual experiences and the forms and extremes of their desires. The desire and transgression awaken one suddenly, and it has never been so… achingly human.

Although it is less radical in form and style, with this film, Québécois director Denis Coté, whom RIGA IFF audiences know well, returns with his own brand of “suicidal realism” and plasticity of image. This time, Coté has turned his attention to the stigmatised topic of sexual frustration, breaking a pervasive cinematic stereotype of interconnected images: “women” + “medical institution” + “good doctors” + “the intentions of the body”. When this film, which was made in the tradition of Québécois low-budget cinema, screened in competition at this year’s Berlinale, Coté said that nymphomania has in cinema often been seen as way for men to punish women because they don’t understand female desire. With this, however, the director is not making an arrogant claim that he will be the one who will rewrite history.