By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Jean-Marc Vallée
Starring: Alice Dubois | Evelyne Brochu | Hélène Florent | Kevin Parent | Marin Gerrier | Vaness Paradis
Country: canada, france
Year: 2012
Running time: 120
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1550312/
Thom says: “Director Vallée made a splash a few years back with C.R.A.Z.Y. & I quite liked his THE YOUNG VICTORIA (2009) (another entry that was denied me at TIFF 2009) so I went into the film with my eyes wide open. And, despite a rocky start I ended up a fan of this new film. The story bounces back and forth in time between the present in Montreal and some 40 years earlier in Paris. Antoine is a successful DJ (although how he’s made so much money in this profession is a mystery) who has left his wife and two children for a much younger woman. In 1960s Paris a young woman, Jacqueline, gives birth to a Downs Syndrome boy (Laurent) and her husband leaves them. She is obsessed with her son to a clearly harmful degree and when he connects with a girl with the same syndrome at a special needs school the mother has a difficult time letting go. Meanwhile, Antoine’s ex-wife Carole, still devastated by the separation starts to have visions of a mystical nature and goes to a medium to figure out the significance of her sleepwalking and spasms. She begins to see Jacqueline and Laurent in her dreams as well. How this all comes together is the crux of the film and the answer is so compelling and shocking that even non-believers will be moved. I generally have little sympathy with women (or men) that are unable to get past being dumped but it’s a well-worn plot that’s used often so I went with it here through superlative film-making and a stunningly dramatic finale that brings a certain amount of hope. 4 cats
“Seen at TIFF 2011.”
Bruce says: “Jean-Marc Vallée’s 2005 film C.R.A.Z.Y. was quite a hit with independent viewers. C.R.A.Z.Y. is a quirky film about a young man coming to terms with his sexuality. The big budgeted THE YOUNG VICTORIA was his next effort. One might expect a second, more modest, follow-up film to be equally off-beat. It would be difficult to label CAFÉ DE FLORE as such but Vallée has come up with a film that is both traditional yet a decided deviation from the norm. Two stories set in different decades are woven together. In 1969, Jacqueline (Vanessa Paradis), a woman in Paris, is struggling valiantly to care for her six year old son Laurent (Marin Gerrier) who has Down Syndrome. In 2011, Antoine (Kevin Parent), an internationally famous DJ from Montreal, has divorced Carole (Hélène Florent), his childhood sweetheart, leaving his two daughters behind. He claims he, ‘has every reason to be happy.’ But is he? He has found Rosie (Evelyne Brochu), his new soul mate, at a 12 step program. Carole is struggling to find answers to her life and may be nearing a decision that will end it.
“Both stories have considerable dramatic tension centered around the question of the sustainability of unconditional love. In Paris, the young boy is smothered with love by his mother who has given up everything else – the man she loves and the possibility of a more flourishing career – to care for her son. When he meets Véronique (Alice Dubois), a girl in his special needs class who also has Down Syndrome they bond with such fervor, it takes everyone by surprise. Growing up in Montreal Carole never dreamed that her relationship with her Antoine could be torn asunder. She always knew their love was absolute and impenetrable. She is fixated by that thought and holds onto it tenaciously in spite of all the evidence to the contrary.
“The problem with CAFÉ DE FLORE lies in the direction. Vallée writes moderately well and directs his actors ably but falls short in his visual storytelling. CAFÉ DE FLORE has too many unnecessary frantic scenes of driving in cars that are obviously used to create viewer tension. The two stories are not thrillers – yes there is suspense as to the outcome – and both stories are strong enough to stand on their own without the trumped up anxiety factor. Flashbacks to Antoine and Carole as teenagers are confusing since neither resembles their adult selves.
“As mentioned in my earlier review of THE DEEP BLUE SEA, both films have an identical scene with two lovers entwined in lovemaking. Terence Davies’ approach is lyrical, conveying a deep emotional bond between the lovers. Jean-Marc Vallée’s lovers have no more spark than a slick magazine layout. That difference is what separates a master filmmaker from a merely adequate one. CAFÉ DE FLORE is an interesting film worth viewing. Too bad it is not a tour de force. The potential is definitely there. The soundtrack it marvelously eclectic with Pink Floyd, Sigur Rós, Nine Inch Nails and Dinah Washington 3 cats”