In the lead up to the 7th Canadian Film Festival in Australia (August 2012), join us as we countdown the Top 100 Canadian Films of the past 30 years. We'll be posting one film a day leading up to Canada Day on July 1st 2012. Do you agree with our team favourites? Let us know your thoughts!
Antoine, in modern day Montreal, seems to have it all - gorgeous wife, beautiful kids, an amazing house and he’s a successful international DJ. But still he isn’t happy.
Jacqueline, in Paris in the 60s, seems to have it pretty tough; after her first child, Laurent, is born with Down Syndrome her husband insists she put him up for adoption and walks out when she staunchly refuses, leaving her to raise the child as a single working mother. Even so, she is incredibly happy and devoted.
These two stories in Café de Flore, along with another of intoxicating teenage love, run side by side throughout the film, leaving you constantly curious how, if at all, any of these lives might possibly be connected.
As it unfolds, back and forth through the decades, the film explores the profundity of love and commitment: the teens developing an unbreakable bond; Jacqueline’s incredible, unwavering dedication to enriching her son’s life; and Antoine and his young wife’s unabashed desire for one another. But tucked away in time there is also Antoine’s ex-wife and her inability to cope with the divorce, and Jacqueline, unable to accept or allow Laurent’s crush on his friend at school for fear of losing him.
Jean-Marc Vallee, as in his excellent film C.R.A.Z.Y, has again delivered an amazing soundtrack that’s integral and drives the plot; and not just the titular song, but also great tunes from Sigur Rós, Pink Floyd and The Cure that remind us what an important role music plays, in film and in our lives.
I was surprised how much I ended up loving Café de Flore. There are, of course, the excellent performances (Genie Award winner Vanessa Paradis is particularly moving as Jacqueline) and a wonderfully well-written story, but to be honest, this just isn’t usually my type of film. However, the stories are so powerful - simultaneously intimate and universal - and the joy, the love, the ecstasy and the heartache are so easily relatable, that in one way or another, it’s hard not to fall in love with it.
- Karina Libbery
“Playful, painful, willfully strange, deeply emotional and deliberately, delightfully obscure at times, Café de Flore, from French-Canadian writer-director Jean-Marc Vallée (C.R.A.Z.Y.), is a puzzle-film par excellence.” Peter Galvin – sbs.com.au
To see the other films in the countdown so far, click here.