An inventive and visually stimulating deep dive into the world of sex workers, director Nicole Bazuin and writer/subject Andrea Werhun’s expansion of their book and short film Modern Whore is frank, funny, and often quite moving. Seeking to subvert and poke fun at troublesome, problematic narratives surrounding “hooking” and “stripping,” Modern Whore balances light and darkness in playful, but never derogatory ways. It makes the world of sex work understandable for “normies” and never speaks down to the experiences of those making a living with their bodies.
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Werhun (who served as a consultant on Sean Baker’s Anora, with that filmmaker serving as an executive producer here) took a leap of faith and started out as a sex worker in university, where she was an English major trying to make ends meet. On her first night, she made $700 and things went better than expected. She kept her job a secret from most of her loved ones (including her mother, who gives a very honest interview), and while some clients were creepier and more demanding than others, Werhun has few regrets and no shortage of stories to tell. After a few years away, working on a farm with her long term partner, Werhun returned to the city and transitioned into work as an exotic dancer, which was adjacent to her previous career, but posed a different set of occupational issues.
Bazuin (who served as the photographer for Werhun’s book of the same name) makes Modern Whore into a kind of pulpy comic book, full of neons, pastels, and campy wigs, where her subject (a self-identifying ham) is able to slip into a bunch of different personas and guises to talk about taboo subjects and various aspects of the sex industry. There’s plenty of fourth-wall-breaking theatricality, most inventively and comedically utilized in a section talking about the bizarre nature of sex worker review boards online, and dramatically when talking about how some potential clients openly ask for trauma dumps for their own entertainment.
Werhun shows that she’s a consummate performer when called upon – both on screen and off – by always being a gregarious, intimate, intelligent, and reflective person. The sit down interviews Werhun and Bazuin conduct with loved ones, industry colleagues, and even a regular client are equally smart and informed, never shying away from the obviously darker side of the profession and the struggles faced by some sex workers (particularly those of colour), but also never wallowing in pity or sleaze. Modern Whore makes sex work look like many other profession: some days it can be fun and others it’s a capital-J Job. It’s a balanced perspective that demystifies something that has been misunderstood for centuries.
Sunday, September 7, 2025 – 4:30 pm – Scotiabank Theatre 13
Saturday, September 13, 2025 – 9:50 pm – Scotiabank Theatre 7
