Jean-Marc Vallée is now a big time director of American films such as "Dallas Buyers Club" and "Wild." His last French-Canadian film was "Café de Flore" (2011) — a film with 2 stories that parallel each other.
The primary story, set in modern times, involves a Montréal DJ with a new wife, an ex-wife, and 2 daughters. The other story is about a woman in 1960s Paris who gives birth to a boy with Down Syndrome and a girl he meets who also has the same condition.
The stories are supposed to be more significantly tied, but instead of spoiling that for potential viewers, enjoy the film and then determine whether the ties are important to you. What we can tell you is that the 2 stories are about love and what happens when love is ripped from you.
There are 2 trailers above, each for the stories within the film.
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Evelyne Brochu plays Nina, the second wife in the modern story. You would remember Brochu from "Orphan Black" and "X Company" as well as films such as "Inch'Allah" and "Tom at the Farm." Vanessa Paradis, who was Johnny Depp's girlfriend, plays the mother of the Down Syndrome child.
Music is woven well in both stories. The DJ is into Pink Floyd, which reminds us musically of Vallée's use of the same band in "C.R.A.Z.Y." (2005).
Vallée does a good job juggling the stories and since the stories have similar themes, you can compare and contrast the anguish of love in the two stories. Or if you don't want to take the film to that level, you can enjoy 2 well-told stories about love and anguish.
Not to take away from Vallée's 3 American films or his previous Quebecois film library, but the fact that Vallée wrote the screenplay for "Café de Flore" and co-wrote the screenplay for "C.R.A.Z.Y." speaks volumes of what might be missing from his American films. While we are happy for Vallee's recent U.S. success, we desperately miss his writing voice on the big screen.
"Café de Flore" was nominated for 13 Genie awards and won 3 of them: Paradis (Best Actress) as well as Achievement in Make-Up and Visual Effects.
"C.R.A.Z.Y." — a coming of age film for a young gay man — was Canada's entry for the Oscars for Best Foreign Language Film in 2005. We don't say this about every director, but if you saw and liked "C.R.A.Z.Y." then you will enjoy "Café de Flore." And if you like "Café de Flore" and haven't seen "C.R.A.Z.Y." run to see that film.
"Café de Flore" was just on Netflix earlier this month in the United States.
videos credit: YouTube/AdoptFilms
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