# The Balconettes
**The Balconettes** (French: *Les femmes au balcon*) is a 2024 French horror comedy directed by [Noémie Merlant](https://www.edgepedia.org/noemie-merlant), who co-wrote the screenplay with [Céline Sciamma](https://www.edgepedia.org/celine-sciamma) and stars as one of three [Marseille](https://www.edgepedia.org/marseille) roommates whose curiosity about the man across the street leads to a killing and a supernatural reckoning with male violence[1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/462480/en/index/rl/1/). It premiered in the Midnight Screenings section of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival and was released in France on 11 December 2024[2](https://www.crew-united.com/fr/Les-Femmes-au-balcon__322437.html) • [3](https://www.unifrance.org/film/58498/les-femmes-au-balcon).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director and writers | Noémie Merlant, her second feature as director, co-written with Céline Sciamma[1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/462480/en/index/rl/1/) |
| Premiere | Cannes Film Festival 2024, Midnight Screenings (out of competition), world premiere 18 May 2024[2](https://www.crew-united.com/fr/Les-Femmes-au-balcon__322437.html) |
| French release | 11 December 2024, distributed by Tandem[3](https://www.unifrance.org/film/58498/les-femmes-au-balcon) |
| Running time | About 103 minutes (some festival listings give 104 to 105)[3](https://www.unifrance.org/film/58498/les-femmes-au-balcon) • [4](https://fest.afi.com/2024/after-dark-2024/the-balconettes-les-femmes-au-balcon/) |
| Main cast | Noémie Merlant (Elise), Sanda Codreanu (Nicole), Souheila Yacoub (Ruby), Lucas Bravo (the neighbor), Nadège Beausson-Diagne (Denise)[5](https://www.offi.fr/cinema/evenement/les-femmes-au-balcon-99473.html) |
| Production | Nord-Ouest Films, co-produced with France 2 Cinéma; producer Pierre Guyard; world sales mk2 Films[6](https://cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/462595/) |
| Reception | 74% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (43 reviews); AlloCiné press average 3.0/5, spectator average 2.5/5; 94,103 admissions in France[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_balconettes) • [8](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm%3D315202.html) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and themes
The film is set during a heat wave in a Marseille apartment block, where three friends spend their days on the balcony watching their neighbors[1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/462480/en/index/rl/1/). Nicole (Sanda Codreanu) is an aspiring writer struggling to finish her first novel, Ruby (Souheila Yacoub) is a camgirl, and Elise (Noémie Merlant) is an actor in a toxic relationship with a lawyer[9](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/culture/article/2024/12/14/in-les-femmes-au-balcon-noemie-merlant-delivers-a-highly-charged-lesson-in-feminism_6736059_30.html). The three admire a handsome, mysterious photographer ([Lucas Bravo](https://www.edgepedia.org/lucas-bravo)) who lives opposite, and an invitation to a late-night party takes a sinister turn[4](https://fest.afi.com/2024/after-dark-2024/the-balconettes-les-femmes-au-balcon/). Ruby returns from the evening traumatized and bloodstained, with a corpse on her hands, and the women become entangled in a bloody affair[9](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/culture/article/2024/12/14/in-les-femmes-au-balcon-noemie-merlant-delivers-a-highly-charged-lesson-in-feminism_6736059_30.html) • [1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/462480/en/index/rl/1/).
The film mixes comedy, drama, horror, and supernatural elements, and its stated subjects are sisterhood and sexist and sexual violence against women[6](https://cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/462595/) • [10](https://www.giff.ch/archives/2024/film/les-femmes-au-balcon/index.html). The dead man the women must dispose of works in the film as a silenced male point of view that, from beyond the grave, must listen to what women have to say, and the plot also touches on a neighbor who has killed her abusive husband in self-defense[9](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/culture/article/2024/12/14/in-les-femmes-au-balcon-noemie-merlant-delivers-a-highly-charged-lesson-in-feminism_6736059_30.html) • [6](https://cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/462595/). Merlant has described the project as "an absurd and jubilatory delirium", and reviewers noted its debt to gory Asian horror films and to the flamboyant style of [Pedro Almodóvar](https://www.edgepedia.org/pedro-almodovar)[11](https://www.festival-cannes.com/2024/les-femmes-au-balcon-trois-collocs-en-roue-libre/) • [9](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/culture/article/2024/12/14/in-les-femmes-au-balcon-noemie-merlant-delivers-a-highly-charged-lesson-in-feminism_6736059_30.html).
## Production
Merlant wrote the screenplay in collaboration with Céline Sciamma, who directed her in *Portrait of a Lady on Fire* (2019) and has remained her mentor[4](https://fest.afi.com/2024/after-dark-2024/the-balconettes-les-femmes-au-balcon/). As in her first feature *Mi Iubita Mon Amour* (2021), Merlant both directs and acts in the film, a choice she explained by saying she had prepared her character so thoroughly during writing that she felt she knew the film from the inside[8](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm%3D315202.html).
The crew includes cinematographer Evgenia Alexandrova, editor Julien Lacheray, production designer Chloé Cambournac, and composer Uèle Lamore[1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/462480/en/index/rl/1/). Alexandrova received the CST prize for a young film technician at the 2024 Cannes Festival for her work on the film[12](https://www.cnc.fr/cinema/actualites/evgenia-alexandrova-noemie-merlant-est-mon-portebonheur_2311303).
## Release and reception
After its Cannes Midnight Screenings premiere on 18 May 2024, the film traveled to festivals including Toronto-adjacent genre and francophone circuits such as AFI FEST's After Dark section, the Geneva International Film Festival, the [BFI London Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/bfi-london-film-festival), and the Rome Film Fest[4](https://fest.afi.com/2024/after-dark-2024/the-balconettes-les-femmes-au-balcon/) • [3](https://www.unifrance.org/film/58498/les-femmes-au-balcon). It was released in French theaters on 11 December 2024 and later opened in Italy (March 2025), Poland (January 2025), Germany and Austria (May 2025), and other territories[3](https://www.unifrance.org/film/58498/les-femmes-au-balcon) • [2](https://www.crew-united.com/fr/Les-Femmes-au-balcon__322437.html). It was nominated for the [Queer Palm](https://www.edgepedia.org/queer-palm) at Cannes 2024[13](https://www.imdb.com/fr/title/tt27721737/awards/).
**Critical response.** On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 74% Tomatometer from 43 reviews, with a critics consensus describing it as "a Gallic farce that wildly veers between tones with a feminist undercurrent throughout"[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_balconettes). [French press](https://www.edgepedia.org/french-press) reviews averaged 3.0 out of 5 on AlloCiné across 36 titles, while spectator ratings averaged 2.5 out of 5 from about 1,450 votes[8](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm%3D315202.html). Reviewers praised its energy and its handling of a serious subject with humor; *Le Monde* critic Murielle Joudet, while sympathetic to its aims, judged that the film tried to check every box of the post-#MeToo scenario, covering abortion, rape, menstruation, masturbation, and sisterhood, at the cost of a fully built narrative[9](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/culture/article/2024/12/14/in-les-femmes-au-balcon-noemie-merlant-delivers-a-highly-charged-lesson-in-feminism_6736059_30.html). In France the film sold 94,103 tickets[8](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm%3D315202.html).
## Context in Merlant's career
The Balconettes is Merlant's second feature as director, after *Mi Iubita Mon Amour*, which screened at Cannes 2021 in a Special Screening and competed for the Caméra d'Or[8](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm%3D315202.html). As an actor she became known through *Portrait of a Lady on Fire* (2019), [Jacques Audiard](https://www.edgepedia.org/jacques-audiard)'s *Paris, 13th District* (2021), and [Louis Garrel](https://www.edgepedia.org/louis-garrel)'s *The Innocent* (2022), for which she won a César in 2023[11](https://www.festival-cannes.com/2024/les-femmes-au-balcon-trois-collocs-en-roue-libre/) • [14](https://cdn.festival-cannes.com/media/uploads/2024/05/174182.pdf). Commentators place the film within a post-#MeToo current in French cinema in which women's accounts of violence find cinematic form[9](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/culture/article/2024/12/14/in-les-femmes-au-balcon-noemie-merlant-delivers-a-highly-charged-lesson-in-feminism_6736059_30.html).
## References
1. [The Balconettes (Les femmes au balcon), Cineuropa film page](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/462480/en/index/rl/1/)
2. [Les Femmes au balcon, Crew United](https://www.crew-united.com/fr/Les-Femmes-au-balcon__322437.html)
3. [Les Femmes au balcon, Unifrance](https://www.unifrance.org/film/58498/les-femmes-au-balcon)
4. [The Balconettes (Les Femmes au Balcon), AFI FEST 2024 After Dark](https://fest.afi.com/2024/after-dark-2024/the-balconettes-les-femmes-au-balcon/)
5. [Les Femmes au balcon, L'Officiel des spectacles](https://www.offi.fr/cinema/evenement/les-femmes-au-balcon-99473.html)
6. [Review: The Balconettes, Cineuropa (Cannes 2024)](https://cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/462595/)
7. [The Balconettes, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_balconettes)
8. [Les Femmes au balcon, AlloCiné](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm%3D315202.html)
9. [In 'Les Femmes au Balcon,' Noémie Merlant delivers a highly charged lesson in feminism, Le Monde (English edition)](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/culture/article/2024/12/14/in-les-femmes-au-balcon-noemie-merlant-delivers-a-highly-charged-lesson-in-feminism_6736059_30.html)
10. [Les Femmes au Balcon, Geneva International Film Festival 2024](https://www.giff.ch/archives/2024/film/les-femmes-au-balcon/index.html)
11. [Les Femmes au balcon : trois collocs en roue libre, Festival de Cannes](https://www.festival-cannes.com/2024/les-femmes-au-balcon-trois-collocs-en-roue-libre/)
12. [Evgenia Alexandrova : « Noémie Merlant est mon porte-bonheur », CNC](https://www.cnc.fr/cinema/actualites/evgenia-alexandrova-noemie-merlant-est-mon-portebonheur_2311303)
13. [Les femmes au balcon (2024) Awards, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/fr/title/tt27721737/awards/)
14. [The Balconettes press notes, Festival de Cannes](https://cdn.festival-cannes.com/media/uploads/2024/05/174182.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Horror films (individual works) › Comedy horror films › 2020s comedy horror films*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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