Fantastic Fest 2010

“... a dark sex-trafficking fairy tale from Central Europe with Terry Gilliamesque touches.” —Boyd Van Hoeij, Variety.

From the director and the producers of the internationally acclaimed WHITE PALMS, BIBLIOTHEQUE PASCAL was selected for the Cannes’ Quinzaine des Realisateurs, the LA AFI Film Festival, the Berlin Film Festival, the Melbourne International Film Festival and the Sarajevo Film Festival where it collected the Cineuropa Award and CICAE’s Prize. The Hungarian Selection Committee for Academy Awards Entry has named BIBLIOTHEQUE PASCAL as the country’s entry in the race for the best foreign language Oscar. The misadventures of Mona, a Romanian of Hungarian origin single-handedly raising her daughter, whose father is the strange Viorel. Persuaded by Armenian Vacariu of the necessity to go abroad to ensure her economic survival, Mona puts her child in the care of Rodica, a fortuneteller to whom she promises to send money every month.

When she gets to London with forged papers, the young woman is led to one of the capital’s night clubs, the Bibliothèque Pascal, where she works for a time before getting arrested by the police for working illegally. After four months in prison, the night club owner manages to get her released, but her freedom has a price: prostitution in the secret bedrooms of the Bibliothèque Pascal—which offers its clients the possibility of sleeping with sexual slaves representing great figures of literature (Antigone, Katherina Minola [Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew], Mother Courage, Le Petit Prince [Orion Radies], Oliver Twist, Joan of Arc)—a world where anyone can fulfill their fantasy if they can afford it.