I remember, in the movie "Working Girls" by Lizzie Borden, the MC was a lesbian in a committed relationship with another woman. She and her wife lived together and were very happy, they were even raising a child. Everything looked okay with her life. Her job, however, was working as a straight prostitute in a cozy middle-class brothel.
Please tell me more! I've been searching everywhere, but yet to find a complete summary. What was Molly (the MC)'s life at the end of the movie? I hope she changed career, as it is stated somewhere in the reviews that the job was illegal.
It's a really great movie. It's not a hysterical pamphlet against prostitution, it's a serious and realistic movie. It's completely different from the bullshit and the drivel that normally fills every American movie that tackles this subject.
Prostitution is a job; and the working conditions, just like with any other job, are relative to the social and economic milieu. What does that mean? Well, if we look at a horribly pauperized ghetto where life is hellish and people are ignorant and violent and women are constantly beaten and abused and treated as cattle, of course we will find prostitutes who are also pimped and abused and treated as cattle. On the other hand, if we look at a middle-class neighborhood where most people are well-educated and familiar with feminist ideas and have good jobs and a nice standard of living, of course we will find prostitutes who are in control of their own lives and are treated with the respect they deserve.
That's the life of Molly and Diane and Liz and the other "working girls" in the movie. They are prostitutes at a small, nice, cozy brothel in Manhattan. Why did they choose that job? Because it's a very good job: the money is sweet and the hours are more or less what they make them. A simple reason. All those girls in Japan who engage in casual prostitution (many of them girls in school) to pay for concert tickets or Ferragamo bags or whatever would easily relate to the characters in Working Girls and their reasons. Obviously, Misaki is in the same boat: her job as a lesbian call girl is not very different from Molly's job (except she does home delivery).
If this movie has a beef with something, it's not with prostitution: it's with capitalism. Because, in point of fact, these women are employees at the brothel, and, in the end, the Madam who runs the brothel, the boss of the girls, is the one who keeps most of the money they make. As I said before, it's a job, and it runs like any other job: your boss gets rich on your sweat, and you, even if the pay is good, you are just an exploited worker. That's capitalism for you. That's what Molly has realized a long time ago (she mentions two or three times during the movie that it's obscene that the Madam takes such a big cut and makes such a big profit), and that's what brings her to her pivotal decision at the end of the movie.
Spoilers follow now:
Sometimes, a john asks Molly to meet him out of the brothel - at his place, or at a hotel - but Molly always refuses because the brothel is a safer environment. (That "illegal" thing you mentioned? It seems that, at the time, there was some kind of idiotic law in NY that gave the police the power to arrest hookers on the street or at hotels. But the brothel being a private place, the coppers can't do anything about it.) There's one guy, however, one of Molly's regulars, who makes her a much better offer. He's a fifty-something Jewish businessman whose company is doing really well, he's totally raking in the cash, and he wants to make a direct deal to hire Molly. The idea is, he would rent a small apartment somewhere, and Molly would be "on call" to meet him there any time he wants; and he would pay her much more than she makes working at the brothel. Molly hesitates, so he gives her his phone number and tells her to think about it and call him later.
As it happens, that day, the Madam pressures Molly into doing several hours of extra time. It's harrowing, and infuriating, and it makes Molly realize she has had enough of being an exploited worker. So she hands in her letter of resignation, metaphorically speaking, and leaves the brothel never to return. (The Madam is livid with rage, lol!) The movie doesn't show us what happens after that, but it is strongly implied that Molly will accept the Jewish guy's offer, thus becoming a self-employed prostitute: a freelancer with no boss, who sells her services and keeps all the green she makes for herself.
And btw, yeah, Molly is a lesbian in a committed relationship: she has a wife, she has a kid, and she works hard to support her household with the money she earns. That's how it is at the beginning of the movie and that's how it is at the end; her family life doesn't change.
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