CAFÉ DE FLORE – SLIFF Review

Review by Dana Jung

The sometimes obsessive power of love is just one of the themes portrayed in the complex and often riveting new drama CAFÉ DE FLORE.

Jumping back and forth in time, and alternating between two storylines, the film weaves an absorbing and unpredictable tapestry out of its characters and plot.  Antoine is a renowned music mixer/deejay who flies to gigs at huge clubs, regularly taking him away from his beloved family.  He seems to be a man who has everything:  successful career, two adorable daughters, and a woman he is madly in love with.  However, we soon learn that the woman he is currently with is not the mother of his children, as we are introduced to Carole, Antoine’s ex-wife.  Carole lives alone, and is struggling through life separated from her family.  She is taking drugs, sleepwalking, and having a series of disturbing dreams involving a child with Down’s Syndrome.   This converges with the other main story of Jacqueline, a young mother who literally gives up everything to devote herself to her son, who has—Down’s Syndrome.

The relationship between the two family situations is not clear at first, as the film takes time to reveal bits of information and develop its characters.  It also has more secondary themes to elaborate on, such as the importance of music in our emotional lives, and how certain tunes forever remain tied to memories of loved ones and happier times (mention must be made here that the film’s soundtrack, which features selections from Pink Floyd, is excellent).  The movie also touches on (rather unnecessarily, perhaps) themes of past lives and reincarnation.  But the main impressions we are left with concern the nature and forces of love:  a mother’s love for her child, a man’s for a woman, children’s for their parents, and friend’s for each other.  Love has the ability to create an almost divine state of existence, nearly flawless in its perfection.  Or it can become an addictive compulsion which can flower into jealousy or other destructive feelings.

Writer/director Jean-Marc Vallee shows a sure hand with his talented cast and knows how to set up scenes that will have lasting impact later.   For example, the Down’s children are shot in loving slow motion at the beginning so that later scenes of turmoil are emotionally jarring.  And the sequence where the two girls watch their mother sleepwalking is just plain frightening.  The only familiar face in this French film is probably Vanessa Paradis (if only because of her long relationship with megastar Johnny Depp), who is outstanding as the devoted Jacqueline.  With her sad eyes and fierce intensity, Paradis becomes the emotional center of the film, which will take you on a thought-provoking and sometimes difficult journey that adeptly mirrors the many intricacies of love and life.

CAFÉ DE FLORE screens at the St. Louis International Film Festival on Saturday, Nov 17th at 8:30pm at the Plaza Frontenac Cinema and again Sunday, Nov 18th at 3:45pm also at the Plaza Frontenac Cinema