The Smell of Us is a French drama film directed by Larry Clark, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Mathieu Landais. The film follows a group of teenagers living in Paris, including skateboarding enthusiasts, drug addicts, and prostitutes. The main characters include Math, a skateboarder who sells his body for money, and his friend JP, who is also involved in the sex trade.
The movie explores the dark side of adolescence, including issues such as addiction, poverty, and self-harm. The teenagers all come from dysfunctional families and have little hope or direction in life. They spend their days hanging out at a skate park, smoking weed, and engaging in other risky behaviors.
As the story unfolds, we see the characters getting into increasingly dangerous situations, including run-ins with violent clients and drug dealers. One of the characters, Marie, is a young girl who is forced into prostitution by her drug-addicted mother. Another character, Guillaume, is a wealthy teenager who seems to have everything but is still searching for meaning in his life.
The Smell of Us is a raw and uncompromising look at the lives of these troubled young people. It is a disturbing and graphic film that is not for everyone, but it is also a powerful statement about the struggles of the disenfranchised youth in modern urban society.
