Film has had just as much of a deep fascination for prostitution as those men who and women who partake in it. This take on the oldest profession in the world comes from French director Bertrand Bonello and is, for better or worse, unmistakably French in its execution.

Paris, at the dying embers of the nineteenth century, and Marie –France (Noémie Lvovsky) is the Madam of a brothel set within an elegant setting, full of beautiful women available for the desires of the aristocracy.

But despite the fine reputation that the house and the women who work there have, exclusivity cannot prevent diseases of the mind or flesh from cursing its inhabitants. On top of that, its Madam is struggling to keep her business afloat due to a greedy landlord. It seems that this new century just around the corner may bring severe changes into all their lives.

It is such a drag when we have to wear these clothes. Let's get naked in the next scene regardless, OK?

Although it's usually a given that a French film will have its pretentions, this one really goes out of its way to be thoroughly pretentious. The only way it could have been any more so was if Charlotte Gainsbourg starred in it naked; perhaps she turned it down because, as it turns out, nearly everyone in the film is nude at some point or another.

What Bonello has brought to the screen is something brutally elegant. All his female cast are damaged femme fatales; sex sirens luring men into their lair of ill repute. Although they get paid handsomely for their services, as they ask their gentlemen callers "shall we have commerce?", they are all in unrecoverable debt with the Madam.

It may well drip with atmosphere, but it lacks any drama. There's pouting galore, but its characters are all too blasé and nonchalant; in other words too darn French for their own good.

The cast are all highly adept at revealing their flesh to the world, but their characters are still shrouded in mystery. Collectively they work well as a flourish of prostitutes, but individually, there's simply no connection with their stories.

Bonello changes things up a tad, in particular by using more contemporary music, including Nights in White Satin by The Moody Blues, over his lavish period setting. And it looks incredibly swish, but if you have a problem with pretentious French films, this beautifully-striking yet ultimately flawed title is unlikely to change your opinion.