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White Noise

Name: White Noise
Director: Antoine D'Agata
Released: 2019
Duration: 240 min

Representation Score

9.5/10

Excellent

2019

Director

Antoine D'Agata

Runtime

240 minutes

Average Rating

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New Showbiz Analysis

Antoine D'Agata's documentary offers a visceral look at the fringes of society, specifically the globalized reality of sex work. By centering the monologues of women, the film avoids traditional clichés of submissive femininity, instead granting its subjects a significant role in driving the story and voice. The film's strength lies in its international scope, which avoids a Western-centric moral lens. It presents a complex intersection of race, geography, and systemic vulnerability. While the film explores the physiological shifts of addiction, it lacks explicit focus on physical or neurodivergent disabilities. The narrative remains primarily focused on the rapture of sex and narcotics.

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Category Breakdown

Does White Noise have LGBTQ+ representation?

Good

The film focuses on the underground world and nocturnal encounters, providing space for non-traditional sexualities to exist outside of conventional societal approval.

How does White Noise portray gender?

Good

Women are portrayed through personal monologues, expressing their own desires and intense, self-directed physical experiences. These portrayals avoid a patriarchal lens and grant women a significant role in driving the story.

How racially and ethnically diverse is White Noise?

Excellent

The documentary features a wide range of experiences from Cambodia, Norway, Ukraine, and the USA, avoiding a Western-centric perspective by including diverse ethnic landscapes.

How does White Noise represent religion and culture?

Excellent

The narrative critiques mainstream institutions like traditional morality and legality, prioritizing individual subjective experiences over institutionalized religious or social codes.

Does White Noise include disability representation?

Fair

The film touches on altered states of consciousness and chemical dependency. However, it is unclear if these neurochemical complexities are portrayed with specific ability to act.

Present on Screen

Centering women's monologues provides them who play a significant role in driving the story and personal voice.
The global scope avoids Western-centricity by spanning Cambodia, Norway, Ukraine, and the USA.
The film challenges traditional moral hierarchies by prioritizing subjective individual experiences.

Limited or Absent

The film lacks explicit representation of physical or neurodivergent disabilities.
Specific romantic pairings and detailed LGBTQ+ identities remain largely unarticulated.

Official Synopsis

The acclaimed work of photographer Antoine d’Agata has mostly been a journey into the heart of darkness, dealing with random and nightly encounters, sex and prostitution. So it's no surprise that the monumental White Noise leads again to the underworld of sex workers, from Cambodia to Norway, from Ukraine to USA. Built around more than 20 monologues, this film delivers trance-like visions of women in rapture induced by sex or narcotics.

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