Director: Minia Chokri

Stars: Magalie Lépine Blondeau, Pierre-Yves Cardinal, Francis-William Rhéaume, Marie-Ginette Guay

Writer-director Minia Chokri’s picture initially feels like a traditionally middlebrow, French, wryly comic, relationship drama, but it’s subverted by an audacious execution. The excellent Blondeau is Sophia, a fortysomething philosophy lecturer living with her similarly academic partner Xavier (Rhéaume). We are introduced to them naturellement at a dinner party. On the drive home, Xavier tells Sophia about one of the couples who were there, who fight regularly, but who have a healthy sex life, saying he prefers his and Sofia’s own tranquil passionless life. Then, Sofia meets Sylvain (Cardinal), a handsome, bluff builder who is renovating the couple’s house. A passionate affair follows, but complications and awkwardness emerge as they are introduced to each other’s wildly differing social circles. An overfamiliar premise is enhanced by Chokri’s eccentric directorial approach, including sudden crash zooms, jaunty and surprising editing and framing, and a borderline kitsch soundtrack replete with gushingly romantic chansons. Beneath the piquant laughs however lies an affecting portrayal of desire and longing.

David Willoughby

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