Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

Working Girls Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 26, 2022

There's a well known saying about prostitution being the "world's oldest profession", but as Working Girls makes abundantly clear, it may not be a "career" for everyone (not to state the obvious). This appealing if kind of slightly odd hybrid tends to take an almost documentarian approach to this touchy (in more ways than one) subject, though it is in fact (largely?) a work of fiction, one which rose, appropriately phoenix like (a deliberately chosen word, as those who have seen the film will understand), from the "ashes" of writer and director Lizzie Borden's previous film, Born in Flames. That proto- feminist outing was deliberately provocative in how it, much like this film, mixed a quasi-verité stylistic approach with a story that is probably much more "out there" than this particular narrative, though plot elements involving a government trying to subjugate women might strike some as almost frighteningly relevant. There's subjugation of a different sort at play in Working Girls, and in fact if there's a quibble to be had with this often bracing piece, it's that Borden may not completely commit to documenting (no pun intended) the emotional toil of what it means to basically be a piece of meat at your job.

Molly (Louise Smith) is seen in bed with another woman as the film opens, and perhaps against expectations, it turns out this is not part of her "job duties", but is instead her home life, with girlfriend Diane (Deborah Banks). It later is divulged that Molly is not alone among her co-workers in terms of the fact that she is hiding what she does for a living from her significant other. This is in and of itself kind of an interesting paradox, at least within the confines of how Borden presents this entire situation, which at times pretty much boils down to, "Well, you gotta make a living some way". In fact, Borden seems to want to go out of her way to defy expectations about who exactly would "choose" to become a prostitute, with Molly being a prime example, since she's supposedly Yale educated with a tony Ivy League degree.

Working Girls spends more or less a day with Molly and the other women who work at a Manhattan brothel, getting into both the clientele and their various "needs", as well as some personal interactions between the women. There's a "fly on the wall" quality here which adds to the documentary feel of the proceedings, but some of the supposedly "dramatic" moments may undercut the grittier aspects of the work that Borden seems to want to explore at times. There's also what might be perceived as a veritable Deus ex Machina that arrives very late in the proceedings which offers Molly an "escape route", though those with inquiring minds which may not have been granted an Ivy League education may be wondering, "Doesn't a degree from Yale get you anything in terms of job opportunities?"

Working Girls is therefore occasionally a bit uneven, but it's also surprisingly visceral at times, and is graced with some relatively naturalistic performances from a cast who is most likely not going to be very familiar to most viewers. Borden wisely decides against any overt directorial flourishes, allowing the story and actors to carry the day, which they do more often than not.

Working Girls Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Working Girls is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of The Criterion Collection with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.67:1. Criterion's insert booklet contains the following information on the transfer:

Working Girls is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.66:1 [sic]. This new digital transfer was created in 4K resolution on an Arriscan film scanner from the 16 mm A/B original camera negative and restored by the Criterion Collection and the UCLA Film & Television Archive in conjunction with Sundance Institute. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, and warps were manually removed using MTI Film's DRS, while Digital Vision's Phoenix* was used for jitter, flicker, and small dirt.

The monaural soundtrack was remastered from the original magnetic tracks using Avid's Pro Tools and iZotope RX.

The verbiage further lists Lizzie Borden as the supervisor of the transfer. This is a really beautifully organic looking presentation, though the 16 mm source has some inherent limitations at times in fine detail levels, especially in some of the midrange framings. That said, close-ups regularly provide abundant detail levels in everything from facial pores and the like to things like the deep ribbing on the bright blue sweater that Molly wears for much of the story. The palette is mostly well suffused, as evidenced by that very sweater's hue, but there's just the hint of coolness in some selected scenes, where densities don't seem to be as well defined, though those are the exception rather than the rule. There is some very minor age related wear and tear which has made it through the restoration gauntlet, though it's the sort of thing only the most eagle eyed will probably notice. Grain is understandably gritty looking, especially in some of the darker moments, but resolves without any issues.

*I was kind of delighted to see this, with regard to my mention above of this word.

Working Girls Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Working Girls features an LPCM Mono track which more than adequately supports a pretty "talkie" enterprise, one which doesn't really try to exploit any sound design wonderment. Some passing cues offer solid fidelity, and some of the ambient environmental sounds of the urban environment register well enough, but the bulk of the film is dialogue driven, and everything is presented cleanly and clearly without any issues whatsoever. Optional English subtitles are available.

Working Girls Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary Features direcotr Lizzie Borden, director of photography Judy Irola and actor Amanda Goodwin, and was recorded in 2007. As with most Criterion discs, the Commentary has its own tab on the Main Menu.


• Lizzie Borden and Bette Gordon (HD; 21:20) is a 2021 conversation "recorded remotely" (according to an on disc decription) in Los Angeles and New York between these two friends and directors. Despite the "recorded remotely" mention, this does not have the "Zoom" like quality and in fact offers both women in what seem like a natural setting, more or less "with each other", which adds to the flow of the conversation, which is quite far reaching and often fairly provocative.


• Cast and Crew (HD; 22:12) features actors Louise Smith and Amanda Goodwin, producer Andi Gladstone and first assistant director Vicky Funari in more 2021 reminiscences, which is once again described as having been "recorded remotely", and which in this case does have the Zoom-like screens featuring various participants.


• Sex Workers (HD; 26:09) offers Jo Weldon, Antonia Crane, Selena the Stripper and Daphne, all of whom work in various capacities in the so-called "sex industry". This is another Zoom-like aggregation done in 2021. Comments like, "I worked as a dominatrix up until the advent of the pandemic" may provide some unintentional humor at times.

Additionally, Criterion provides their typically very nicely appointed insert booklet, with cast and credits information, an essay by So Mayer, and a printed discussion with Lizzie Borden and Scott MacDonald, along with the typical transfer information.

Working Girls Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There are a number of actual documentaries about the vagaries of prostitution, some of them rather bracing deconstructions of what "sex industry" work is like in a number of foreign lands. Those may give an ultimately more "realistic" account of this particular "career", but Working Girls often registers extremely well in its exploration of the sometimes "hidden" lives of these women. Technical merits are solid, and the supplements very well done. Recommended.