Venus Beauty Institute is a 1999 French film directed by Tonie Marshall.
Angele (Nathalie Baye) is a 40-year-old beautician who works at the titular beauty salon. She is cynical about love, having been in some bad relationships in the past, and she tells potential partners that all she's looking for is casual sex. This is however obviously a lie; when her latest fling dumps her after she suggests that they see each other more often, she is hurt and furious.
That breakup took place at the train station and was witnessed by Antoine, a younger man who is instantly smitten with Angele. He tracks her to the hair salon and proclaims his love. Angele has no problem with hookups (in one scene, she strikes up a conversation with a complete stranger at a diner, and they go to a hotel for sex), she is startled by Antoine's emotional intensity and at first she brushes him off. He is persistent, and eventually they start dating. Will they find happiness? Or will complicating factors, like Angele's rough romantic history or the fact that Antoine actually has a young, pretty fiancée, pull them apart?
Audrey Tautou made her film debut as Marie, Angele's 20-year-old coworker at the salon, two years before hitting it big with Amélie.
Tropes:
- Age-Gap Romance: Marie has a client, a widower who looks to be a good 30 years older than her. He starts giving her presents, and they start spending time together, and by the end of the movie they're engaged. When a puzzled coworker asks how Marie has wound up with a man obviously old enough to be her father, she says "It's probably sexual."
- Buxom Beauty Standard: Discussed by Angele when chatting up the man at the diner. When he observes that she's on the skinny side, she says that he must prefer big breasts, and then says "Skinny girls screw just as well."
- Call-Back:
- In one scene, Angele confidently sits down opposite a complete stranger at a diner, and chats him up, a conversation that ends with the two of them going off to a hotel for sex. Later, she is chatting with another stranger at the same diner, but this time she is pouring out her romantic angst about Antoine and angrily rebuffs the stranger when he suggests they leave together.
- Angele recounts a pretty scary story about how her boyfriend Jacques cheated on her, so she freaked out and pulled a gun on him, and he grabbed the gun, which went off and scarred his face. At the end Antoine's girlfriend strides into the salon and points a gun at Antoine. He grabs it, and the gun goes off—and shoots the neon sign over the salon's door.
- Chick Flick: The protagonist is a middle-aged beautician who finds love with a handsome younger man.
- Downer Beginning: Angele is chatting at the train station with a man that apparently she's been having sex with all weekend. She proposes that they see each other regularly, only for him to refuse and dump her. She's hurt and humiliated.
- Fourth-Date Marriage: Antoine falls instantly in love with Angele after watching the conversation where she breaks up with the man at the train station. He goes to her salon and says that he loves her, during the very first conversation they have.
- Happy-Ending Massage: The Venus Beauty Institute does not give these out, but a man who comes in seems to think that they do. When Marie is running through the list of massages they give, the man keeps asking if they include "finishing touches." Innocent Marie does not get it, but Angele certainly does and she throws the man out.
- Heartbeat Soundtrack: Part of how Angele's stress is rendered after she sees Antoine kissing his fiancée. She draws a completely incorrect conclusion, as actually the fiancée was stalking Antoine and forced a kiss on him.
- The Mistress: One scene has a woman come in and get a beauty treatment. In fact she's the kept woman of a rich man and he paid for it. She talks about some of the degrading aspects of their relationship, like how he's getting her beauty treatments and sexy lingerie when she really wants a nice warm coat—but she also admits that "I don't like to work."
- Murder-Suicide: In the backstory. Part of Angele's mess of psychological issues comes from back when she was eight, when her father murdered her mother after thinking she cheated on him. After finding out he was wrong, he killed himself.
- No Name Given: Antoine's fiancée is never named.
- Rom Com Job: Angele works in a beauty salon as a beautician. Antoine for his part is a sculptor!
- Sexy Backless Outfit: Antoine insists on buying Angele just such a dress.
- Shameless Fanservice Girl: Mme. Buisse, the very sexy woman who comes to the salon to use the tanning booth. One time she comes out of the changing room naked because there aren't any robes, and is completely unconcerned when a whole crowd of men instantly gathers outside the window to stare. Later, she comes out of the tanning room naked to complain about the bulb burning out, and is again indifferent when Antoine is there and stares in astonishment. (She's addressed as "Madame Buisse" in dialogue but the actress is credited as "Exhibitionist client.")
- Vehicle Vanish: Antoine is outside the salon, watching for Angele. Finally, he strides across the street to greet her as she's leaving, only for a truck to pass. When the truck is gone, so is she.Antoine: Merde!
- Visual Title Drop: The opening credits play out over a shot of the salon, with the camera pulling out to reveal the sign out front that says "Venus Beauty Institute."
- Woman Scorned: Antoine's unnamed fiancée, who starts stalking both Antoine and Angele after finding out about the two of them. At the end of the film she pulls a gun, but Antoine disarms her and she leaves.
