A Senegalese woman named Saartjie Baartman is brought to early nineteenth-century Europe, where she is exhibited as a curiosity and sexual spectacle under the name "Hottentot Venus" before audiences in London and Paris. The film follows her degradation and exploitation at the hands of those who profit from displaying her body, whilst she herself remains largely voiceless amidst the spectacle. Kechiche's lengthy and unflinching portrait raises uncomfortable questions about race, colonialism, and the Western gaze.