The first part of a loose trilogy from Ulrich Seidl that follows an Austrian housewife as she heads to the beaches of Kenya on a package holiday in the hopes of finding true romance in the arms of one of the many lover boy gigolos. While fictionalised, there is a documentary feel to the execution of the story. Everything we see feels so uncomfortable and real that it is almost impossible to refute anything we see. There are numerous sequences of overweight, aging white woman frolicking around with ripped young black guys, but there is a distinct lack of love to be found, aside from when they turn and admire their idyllic surroundings. Unsuprisingly things do not go smoothly, and every man she meets sooner or later ask her for money, be it for a sick relative or empoverished neighbour, but these women really have only themselves to blame. The ones who see it all as a little bit of fun, behavely coldly and callously to the young men, and use them solely for sex, walk away relatively unscathed. For those desperate for something deeper, however, they are only going to get hurt.
Paradise: Love
