This film switches back and forth between two stories. One is 1960's Paris. Jacqueline is a hard-working protective single mother to Laurent who has Down syndrome. Laurent develops a relationship with fellow Down syndrome classmate Véro. The two kids become inseparable no matter how infuriating it is for Jacqueline. In the other story, it is modern day Montreal. Antoine is recently divorced from Carole with two girls. He is a successful concert DJ and he falls for beautiful Rose. There is a surprising connection between the two stories.
The 60's story is compelling. I love the kids. The mother son relationship is exceptional. The modern day story is not as compelling. The trial and personal tribulation of Antoine don't hold any interest for me. The back and forth between the stories disrupts the flow. The final reveal is profound, confusing, infuriating, ambitious, and in the end not all together successful. I may like this one better if it played out chronologically.
64% - Critics
76% - Audience
7.3Keywords: couplenonlinear timelinemontreal, canadadivorced parentsdown syndrome
Plot summary
A love story about people separated by time and place but connected in profound and mysterious ways. Atmospheric, fantastical, tragic and hopeful, the film chronicles the parallel fates of Jacqueline, a young mother with a disabled son in 1960s Paris, and Antoine, a recently divorced, successful DJ in present day Montreal. What binds the two stories together is love - euphoric, obsessive, tragic, youthful, timeless love. In 1960s Paris, a working class woman gives birth to her first child, Laurent - a Down Syndrome son. Undaunted she embraces the challenge of raising her beloved offspring as normally as one would any other child. Her husband abandons them both. She bravely brushes this additional hiccup aside as Laurent replaces her spouse as the perfect man of her dreams. As Laurent approaches school age Jacqueline's aplomb becomes obsessive and cloying. Her increasingly self-destructive attachment to her son is raised to a fever pitch when, at the age of seven, he meets a Down Syndrome girl (Véronique) and experiences his first crush. His sudden desire for independence, and his attraction to Véra, are the catalysts that transform Jacqueline from a loving mother into something resembling a lover scorned. What emerges is a love triangle of potentially tragic proportions. In 21st century Montreal, a forty year old divorcée, Carole, is trying to restart her life after her divorce, two years earlier, from Antoine, a devastatingly handsome, successful touring DJ. Soul mates who've been a couple since the age of fifteen, their divorce is a schism that might prove impossible for either of them to put in the past. Making the transition even more difficult for Carole is the fact that her two daughters, one teen, one tween, are about to gain a stepmother, a stunningly beautiful, heartbreaking blonde, a woman about to "steal" away the perfect man of her dreams. The young girls are being cruelly pulled in two different directions, Antoine's father, a recovering alcoholic, seems to side with his ex-daughter-in-law, and Carole is succumbing to fits of depression and potentially dangerous bouts of sleepwalking. What emerges is a love triangle of potentially tragic proportions.
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Hurry On Down
I was not too keen to check this one out because I have an aversion to Vanessa Paradis but all I can say is that I am glad I did see it and will happily see it again and certainly buy the DVD when it becomes available. It is, of course, no secret that the French are past masters of delicate, fragile even, emotional story telling on celluloid and clearly French Canadians are not far behind. It takes a while - say a good two reels - to get its emotional claws into you but once it does ... There are two stories unravelling here some forty years apart; in present day Montreal a successful disc jockey, father of two young daughters, meets a woman he feels is his soul mate and albeit reluctantly divorces his wife. He does not do this lightly - in fact guilt drives him to seek psychiatric help - for he had known his wife since they were children. She in turn has never even kissed another man and is distraught at the break. The eldest daughter is also unhappy at the fragmenting of her life and loses no opportunity to play her parents' 'special' song in an effort to drive her father back into her mother's arms. Meanwhile in Paris Vanessa Paradis gives birth to a son with Down's syndrome in 1969. It is too much for the husband who is all for placing the child in a home specializing in care for such children but when Paradis will not entertain such a notion he abandons both wife and child. Paradis, with little money, becomes a single working mother lavishing love on the child and they become sufficiently close to verge on the unhealthy. At the age of seven the son meets and immediately bonds with a girl who is similarly afflicted. The two become inseparable to the point where Paradis intervenes, clearly unable to face sharing her son's unconditional love. The two stories are obviously linked - or else why show us both - and we switch fluidly between the two in awe of - whilst at the same time basking in - the power of love as manifested in two entirely different forms. The acting by everyone concerned is outstanding as is the writing and directing yet I fear it may fail to find its audience which would be a tragedy.
Cafe Society.
After watching three charming 1927 shorts last night I decided to get back to watching feature flicks. Checking BBC iPlayer,I was intrigued to find a recent Quebec French film I've heard nothing about,which led to me booking a table at the café.
The plot:
Touring around the world as a DJ, Antoine tries to take care of his children whilst also falling in love with girlfriend Rose. Feeling that he wants to take the next step with Rose,Antoine starts to think how this will complicate things with his ex-wife Carole.In 1960's Paris,single mother Jacqueline passionately takes care of her Down syndrome son Laurent. Each appearing to live separate lives,Antoine spins a tune that he,Rose,Carole,Laurent and Jacqueline all sing across time.
View on the film:
Tightly coiled in the love they have for each other Vanessa Paradis & Marin Gerrier both give exceptional performances as Jacqueline and Laurent. Going against demands for him to be put in a "specialist" hospital, Paradis expresses Jacqueline's love for her son in an incredibly subtle way,via the change in her open facial expressions and protective body language displaying how important giving her love to Laurent is. Embracing his mum's love, Marin Gerrier gradually breaks open a rift between them,as Laurent puts his hands out for love from another.
Spinning the wheels of steel with EDM and Pink Floyd,writer/editor/director Jean-Marc Vallée and cinematographer Pierre Cottereau give Antoine's thread a slick "clubbing" appearance,where neon blue and yellow lights flick across the screen. Making 60's Paris look like a Costume Drama, Vallée paints Jacqueline and Laurent and drab,dour browns and yellows chipping into the hardships they face.
Drifting between the two threads,the screenplay by Vallée hits the heart of the film when focusing on Laurent and Jacqueline,thanks to their relationship being given a humble Neo-Realist edge,focusing on the obsessive,protective love that Laurent and Jacqueline become caught in. Attempting to match the drama from the duo, the suburban trouble Antoine becomes tangled in disappointingly fails to match the deep emotions in Jacqueline and Laurent's tale. Keeping the drama grounded, Vallée brings a New Age twist in which undermines all that has taken place,with the dialogue spilling into inane spiritual nonsense which shuts the café doors.