1, 2, 3, Freeze (1993)

This film dramatizes life in the housing projects of 1990s Marseilles, focusing on the early and coercive sexualization of females, the enabling of sexual precociousness in males, early marriage, and high birth rates, with minor emphasis on sexual mixing between native French and the immigrant Africans. Whether this view of how poverty and hopelessness warp sexual mores is intended to be taken literally or as a satire of common perceptions is not made clear.

Sexualized situations and conversations are pervasive. Sexual assaults of girls and women are shown and portrayed as commonplace, as are male and female promiscuity and unfaithfulness. Fear of assault is said to be constant.

The environment is exemplified by a role-reversal conversation referring to past events: Victorine's mom threatens to "become a punk, get myself raped, and come to like it," and Victorine retorts I'll take dope, become an unwed mother, and "f*ck in front of my kids to freak them out." Victorine's father is implied to sleep around with other women, and has at least 10 kids, some of whom he doesn't recognize or know about.

Racial perceptions are mentioned a couple of times, but not examined in detail: A white French man urges a preteen boy of African descent to marry "a real white French girl with big boobs" when he grows up, and give her a baby. Another man, asked why he has so many kids, says "Immigrants don't take precautions. I'm out of work and I screw." Reminded that he's French and white, he insists "I'm Muhammed from Algeria. I f*ck you! I f*ck your mom!"

We see clothed breasts fondled several times; coitus is shown a couple of times, but very briefly. Nudity is limited to an extended frontal view of one woman's breasts and a few fleeting side glimpses of another's, plus one scene where breasts are shown but the nipples covered by hands. Girls and women are seen in bras and panties occasionally, and boys and men without shirts.

Girls and women are groped and coerced into sexual activity; see Sex & Nudity.

A boy joyriding in a stolen police car is shot from a distance; we see some blood on the armpit of his shirt.

A young boy says that people shoot at him when he robs their homes.

A man robbing a home is shot in the back at close range; no blood is shown.

A woman opens the door of her home at night and shoots into the air to drive away someone seeking emergency medical assistance.

A man dies of a heart attack; he isn't shown suffering.

People engage in mild scuffles.

A woman breaks glassware in a bar and threatens to burn it down.

In an act of revenge, the home of a man dying of cancer is burned down while he is in it. Once the flames start, we only see this from outside.

As English subtitled, "fuck" is used a few times though not usually sexually, and "goddammit" once. (In French I could only make out "merde".) Occasionally vulgar name-calling or sexual terms are heard, (e.g. "chicken-shit assholes", "Go eat pussy!", "Snatchie", "bastard", "cock", "tits 'n ass", "hard-on"), but it's not pervasive.

A main character is an alcoholic. He is frequently shown drunk in bars and other locations, and this causes him problems with everyday tasks. He doesn't always recognize his own kids, and doesn't know how many he has.

Several people smoke cigarettes a few times, including a couple of main characters.

No other drugs.

Although sexual assault and homicide are central to the story, the surreal presentation -- characters expositing to the camera, flashbacks, fantasy sequences, and active participation by dead people -- reduces the visceral impact and keeps this film from being seriously frightening. Viewers may be (and are probably intended to be) more distressed by the overall social and economic environment this film portrays.

A couple of dead characters return intermittently for extended conversations and some physical interactions with the living, but these are not frightening scenes.

Apparently suffering from some form of mental illness, the main character's mother behaves bizarrely at times, for example taking her daughter's place at school one day.