People on the margins in ‘Wild Side’

With her ivory complexion, delicate features and dark mane of hair, Stephanie Michelini seems to have stepped out of a Renaissance painting. In Sebastien Lifshitz’s lyrical yet succinct “Wild Side,” Michelini’s Stephanie is a prostitute and pre-op transsexual in Paris who is at times flooded with childhood memories of rural northern France.

News of her mother’s impending death brings Stephanie home, accompanied by her best friend, a North African male hustler (Yasmine Belmadi), and a Russian (Edouard Nikitine) man who is falling in love with her.

With complexity and delicacy yet stunning directness, Michelini expresses the passionate and independent Stephanie’s attempt to resolve her past and sort out her present. This process unfolds in terse, compelling fashion with ravishing camerawork by Agnes Godard.

-- Kevin Thomas

“Wild Side,” unrated. Decidedly adult themes, situations. Running time: 1 hour, 33 minutes. Exclusively at the Regent Showcase, 514 N. La Brea Ave., (323) 934-2944.

*

More sluggish than slutty

Director-writer-star Casper Andreas overextends himself with the tedious “Slutty Summer,” a minor-key gay romantic comedy about a young novelist rebounding from a long-term relationship while working as a waiter at a New York City cafe.

Markus (Andreas) tries the tactics of his co-workers -- mischievous Luke (Jesse Archer), who espouses promiscuity; hedonistic Tyler (Jamie Hatchett), who’s mostly into himself; languishing singer-actress Marilyn (Virginia Bryan); and brooding actor Peter (Jeffrey Christopher Todd), who’s holding out for “the one” -- before doing the usual rom-com soul searching and choosing a path to l’amour.

Andreas is way too low-energy to hold the screen as the film’s lead, but he was wise to surround himself with a talented cast. Unfortunately, the wooden dialogue and overall shallowness of the writing keep the film from being even an amiable diversion.

-- Kevin Crust

“Slutty Summer,” unrated. Brief nudity, language and sexual situations (less raunchy than the title implies). Running time: 1 hour, 25 minutes. Exclusively at Laemmle’s Fairfax Cinemas, 7907 Beverly Blvd., (323) 655-4010.

*

Iran, looking

a lot like us

When Iranian films broke through in the 1990s as one of the most invigorating of national cinemas, the stories tended to be about children, but filmmakers often used them to circumvent censorship and subversively criticize the post-revolution fundamentalist regime.

“Unwanted Woman” -- the latest film by prominent feminist director Tahmineh Milani, some of whose earlier work had to be smuggled out of Iran -- is very different from those films in its story of an unhappy wife’s struggle to assert herself with a wayward husband.

Sima (Merila Zareie) is a 35-year-old teacher who trades and sells items to make ends meet while her strutting husband, Ahmad (Amin Hayaie), looks for get-rich-quick schemes. When he announces that he is driving a pretty young widow (Elssa Firouz Azar) from Tehran to her rural village, Sima impulsively disobeys him and joins them as chaperon.

Her suspicions that things aren’t what they seem climax in an encounter with a murderous wronged husband (Parssa Pirouzfar) on the lam, with whom she at once identifies.

Although fascinating in its depiction of a surprisingly Westernized slice of contemporary life in Iran, the film awkwardly blends genres, with melodrama overwhelming Milani’s attempts at social commentary.

-- K.C.

“Unwanted Woman,” unrated. Emotional violence. Running time: 1 hour, 39 minutes. Exclusively at Laemmle’s Music Hall, 9036 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, (310) 274-8669.