By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.8 cats
Director: Valérie Minetto
Starring: Aurélia Petit | Guilaine Londez | Malik Zidi | Mila Dekker
Original language title: Oublier Cheyenne
Country: france
Year: 2007
Running time: 86
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0410410/
Michael says: “This French film explores the broken relationship between two women who have made opposing life choices. It requires concentration and attention, both of which were in short supply when I saw this film at the Provincetown International Film Festival. However, as with most good movies, half an hour in and I was fully engaged and alert (despite the chattering women sitting between us that eventually prompted Chris to move.)
“Sonia is a science teacher at a local college. She is successful, beautiful, and enjoys the comforts of life. Cheyenne, a journalist, was a victim to reorganization and unemployed for over a year. Unable to pay her bills or maintain her apartment, she decides to remove herself from the system and live without electricity, running water, gas, oil, etc. Sonia and Cheyenne love each other deeply, despite the attentions of the quirky characters around them. Valérie Minetto’s debut feature is both a rewarding love story and a look at modern day politics, with faint reminiscences of last year’s Chlotrudis Buried Treasure, THE EDUKATORS. Aurélia Petit is terrific as Sonia, giving us a three-dimensional woman whose ideals and emotions are in conflict. If you like your French films to blur their genres, this romantic drama with a political edge is for you. 4 cats”
Bruce says: “If LOOKING FOR CHEYENNE (the French title is OUBLIER CHEYENNE) is any kind of bellwether, Valérie Minetto is a director to watch. In her debut film she demonstrates great control of her story line and an uncanny eye that takes advantage of every visual opportunity. Minetto takes considerable risks in overlaying a focused plot with a loose style. The result is quite a success.
“Sonia (Aurélia Petit) and Cheyenne (Mila Dekker) are lovers who are estranged due to strange circumstances. When Cheyenne, a journalist, loses her job she hits an emotional bottom. She cannot find work and refuses any offers of financial assistance from her lover. Sticking to principals she is like a child refusing to yield ground during a temper tantrum, no rational argument can reach Cheyenne. The two women do what every couple does when they reach an impasse: they split up. Cheyenne moves out and becomes a creature of the streets and countryside.
“LOOKING FOR CHEYENNE is mostly about Sonia trying to analyze her life and her priorities while she decides what to do about Cheyenne. First she meets Pierre (Malik Zidi) and brings him home for the night. He is totally smitten and refuses to believe that Sonia prefers women. ‘Wouldn’t you rather have a bloke?’ he asks. ‘Wouldn’t you really rather have a bloke?’ she answers, easily driving her point home. Then Sonia meets Béatrice (Guilaine Londez) at a bar. She allows the somewhat predatory Béatrice to seduce her. While Sonia likes both Pierre and Béatrice, she comes to realize how much she loves Cheyenne and how empty her life is without her. By this time Cheyenne had disappeared.
“Aurélia Petit, Malik Zidi, and Guilaine Londez deliver terrific performances. American audiences might recall Malik Zidi playing Franz in Ozon’s WATER DROPS ON BURNING ROCKS; otherwise, this hard working trio has rarely been seen on an American screen. Hopefully that will change.
“My disappointment with the film concerns Cheyenne. I would rather have seen her played as an idealistic adult as opposed to a petulant child. I fault both the script and Mila Dekker who plays Cheyenne. My second complaint is a bit selfish. The subtitles were unquestionably directed towards a British audience. That may be intentional or the person in charge may have learned English in the UK. Using words like ‘bloke’ and ‘sod’ won’t win over a provincial American audience. 4 cats
“LOOKING FOR CHEYENNE was screened at the 2006 Provincetown International Film Festival.”
Chris says: “Valérie Minetto’s peculiar, absorbing film opens at a lonely intersection at the dead of night. As a traffic light incessantly blinks on and off, we see what appears to be a homeless person asleep on the ground, wrapped in blankets. That person is actually Cheyenne (Mila Dekker), a laid-off journalist who has had it with modern society. Sick of paying the bills and averse to even setting foot in a car, she’s on her way out of Paris to live off the grid. Problem is, girlfriend Sonia (Aurelia Petit) refuses to join her and give up the comforts of modern life. The narrative’s first half follows Sonia more closely as she adjusts to living without the woman she still loves. She stumbles into a one-night stand with Pierre (Malik Zidi), a scrappy anarchist who amusingly continues to pester her afterwards. She then attempts a fling with the even more persistent Beatrice (Guilaine Londez). Eventually, Sonia seeks out Cheyenne, hoping to reconcile their disparate philosophies on what constitutes a sustainable life.
“With a thoughtful screenplay, arresting visuals (don’t miss the Jean-Pierre Jeunet-inspired opening credits) and great performances all around, LOOKING FOR CHEYENNE is an admirable effort, even it does often lurch at an almost somnambulistic pace. I admittedly viewed it half-awake under the spell of film festival fatigue (and a few restless, chattering moviegoers sitting behind me didn’t help much with my concentration, either). Fortunately, it’s been picked up by Regent Releasing for US distribution in 2007, and I look forward to a second viewing. 3.5 cats”