Back to trending
The Margin

The Margin

Drama · 1976

A businessman leaves his country home, and wife and young son for a business trip to Paris. While there he develops a sexual and spiritual bond with a call girl.

Movie details

The Margin

“The line between love and lechery.”

1976 Drama 1h 28m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

5.2 / 10

1.3K votes

TMDB

6.0 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

A businessman leaves his country home, and wife and young son for a business trip to Paris. While there he develops a sexual and spiritual bond with a call girl.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Margin?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

Night Ride

Night Ride

Drama · 2019

Jin is a young illegal Chinese immigrant in Paris. He works in a fraudulent taxi scheme for the Triads. The only memory of his past as a DJ in Beijing is the inspiring sophisticated electro music he plays in his car when he drives. One night, Naomi, a troubling and stunning escort and stripper, gets in his car. Intrigued by the young driver, falling for his music, she decides to make him her exclusive driver. But as they grow closer, Jin will have to betray dangerous people.

Fidelity

Fidelity

Drama · 2000

A talented photographer who lands a lucrative job in Paris with a scandal-mongering tabloid and becomes romantically involved with an eccentric children's book publisher while resisting the sexual advances of another photographer.

Nathalie...

Nathalie...

Drama · 2004

Paris doctor Catherine starts to think her husband, Bernard, is having an affair when she hears an unfamiliar woman's message on his voice mail. Hoping to learn more about his extramarital activities, Catherine heads to a strip club, where she hires call girl Nathalie to have a fling with Gerard. As the affair progresses, Nathalie gives Catherine regular status reports, and the relationship between the women evolves from business to personal.

Élisa

Élisa

Drama · 1995

Marie has had a tough childhood ever since her mother Elisa committed suicide. She has spent most of her life in an orphanage and now makes a living as a small time criminal in Paris. Now she wants to unravel her past and find her father whom she blames for her mother's death.

House of Pleasures

House of Pleasures

Drama · 2011

The dawn of the 20th century: L’Apollonide, a luxurious and traditional brothel in Paris, is living its last days. In this closed world, where some men fall in love and others become viciously harmful, the women share their secrets, their fears, their joys and their pains.

Party Girl

Party Girl

Drama · 2014

Angélique is a 60-year-old bar hostess. She still likes to party, she still likes men. At night, she makes them drink, in a cabaret by the French-German border. As time goes by, clients become rare. But Michel, her regular client, is still in love with her. One day, he asks Angélique to marry him.

Sauvage

Sauvage

Drama · 2018

Léo, a 22-year-old homeless sex worker searches for genuine love on the streets of Strasbourg.

Divines

Divines

Drama · 2016

In a ghetto where religion and drug trafficking rub shoulders, Dounia has a lust for power and success. Supported by Maimouna, her best friend, she decides to follow in the footsteps of Rebecca, a respected dealer. But her encounter with Djigui, a young, disturbingly sensual dancer, throws her off course.

Vivre Sa Vie

Vivre Sa Vie

Drama · 1962

Twelve episodic tales in the life of a Parisian woman and her slow descent into prostitution.

Razzia

Razzia

Crime · 1955

Henri, the Man from Nantes, comes back to his country after a successful stay in the United States, where he was working for Liski, the drug dealer. With the fame of being a tough guy preceding him, he sets himself to the task of knowing why the French operations were not so profitable - and soon he is master of all links of the organization. He can now get it honed to perfection - or destroy it. Only... the Police are following his every step.

Where it lives

Watch in your region.

Cinema release signals and current streaming, rental, and purchase options for your region.

Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.

Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Walerian Borowczyk

Written by

André Pieyre de Mandiargues

Sylvia Kristel

Sylvia Kristel

Diana

Joe Dallesandro

Joe Dallesandro

Sigimond Pons

André Falcon

André Falcon

Antonin Pons

Mireille Audibert

Mireille Audibert

Sergine Pons

Denis Manuel

Denis Manuel

Le moustachu

Louise Chevalier

Louise Chevalier

Feline

E

Emmanuel Franval

Cast

Court is in session

Put The Margin on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Ambition earns the room.”

The film reaches for consequence and scale, accepting the risk of seriousness instead of shrinking from it.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Importance has entered the chat.”

The production keeps announcing its significance, as though awards-season posture were proof of insight.