Sugar, Baby

Saintclare debuts with a provocative tale of a 21-year-old cleaner drawn into sex work. Agnes, who is Black, cleans for a rich white woman named Camila and lives in a deteriorating suburb outside of London with her Pentecostal Christian mother, Constance. While on the job, Agnes rummages through Camila’s adult daughter Emily’s childhood room and steals a sky-blue suspender belt, before encountering the blonde and alluring Emily in the house. Emily sees potential in Agnes and offers to show her the ropes of high-paid “sugaring,” in which a client pays for a steady relationship. After Agnes shares a night out with a client named Matthew, Constance catches her in a lie about babysitting for a cousin and kicks her out of the house. Agnes moves in with Emily and three models in their flat in South Kensington, where she transforms herself with lip injections, a new hairstyle, and borrowed clothes. Though she enjoys the work’s perks—Matthew buys her an expensive bag and pays her handsomely in exchange for sex twice a month—the other end of the bargain begins to weigh on her. Things come to a head after Agnes travels to Miami with another client and is pushed into a compromising situation by his jealous wife. Saintclare is best when portraying sex work’s mental toll on Agnes as she struggles to keep herself from having feelings for her clients and starts remembering Constance’s “God is watching you” refrain. This powerful story makes Saintclare one to watch. Agent: Hattie Grunewald, Blair Partnership. (Jan.)