Student Services (original title, Mes chères études, "My Dear (Expensive) Studies") is a 2010 French drama television film.
It follows Laura (Déborah François), a French student in foreign languages, who turns to sex work after she faints in a lecture from not having eaten enough. Initially drawn in by what seems to be easy money, Laura quickly learns that the life of a sex worker is far from easy, but she can't get out because she still has bills to pay...
This movie exhibits the following tropes:
- Auto Erotica: Laura's second client can't afford a hotel room.
- Bondage Is Bad: The primary "bad customer" that Laura keeps getting involved in is Joe. On their second meeting, he ties her up and assaults her with a sex toy. On the fourth, it's heavily implied that she's strapped to a St. Andrew's cross and shared with two of Joe's friends.
- Fan Disservice: Laura gets naked multiple times in the film, and has sex during several of the scenes, but the sex scenes with clients are filmed without any music and she never enjoys it, emphasizing how unsexy the whole situation is. Not to mention the sex toy rape she clearly didn't consent to.
- Madonna-Whore Complex: Laura tries to divide herself into the two categories. She's not the whore when she's not having sex for money.
- Sex Work Pays for Education: Laura turns to prostitution because she's a Starving Student.
- Starving Student: Early in the movie, Laura faints in class due to not having eaten properly.
- Unproblematic Prostitution: Highly averted. Laura gets raped, gets stiffed multiple times on her fee, and many of the clients force her into more than she's offering. That's not even including how it drives away Manu, the man she loves.