Heading South - Alchetron, The Free Social Encyclopedia

Heading south trailer

Heading South (French: Vers le sud) is a 2005 French-Canadian drama film directed by Laurent Cantet and based on three short stories by Dany Laferrière. It depicts the experiences of three middle-aged white women in the late 1970s, traveling to Haiti for the purposes of sexual tourism with young men. Their adventures (as seen in their eyes) are juxtaposed with class issues and the deteriorating political climate of Haiti at the time. The women demonstrate different attitudes to the complex situation.

Plot

Ellen, played by Charlotte Rampling, is a professor of French literature at Wellesley College in Boston, Brenda, a stay-at-home wife from Savannah, Georgia; and Sue, a factory worker from Quebec, Canada, feel lonely and ignored by middle-aged men back at home. They travel to Haiti to enjoy a holiday of sun, surf, and sex with attractive local teenagers to whom they are financially generous. Ellen and Brenda vie for the attention of Lega and it is only after his tragic death that their eyes are finally opened to the callousness of their hedonistic actions, the suffering of the Haitian people and the political climate.