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Boundaries is a story of exploitation, political intrigue, colonization and exploitation. But don't let these heavy themes fool you; writer-director Chloé Robichaud's characteristic minimalist style means that they're given short shrift, enveloped in a subtlety so dense it's like nothing is really happening at all.

The film takes place on the (fictional) island of Besco, a small islander community off the east coast of Canada that is struggling economically. Besco wants to negotiate with the Canadian government, one of her countries main creditors, to allow Canadian companies to come in and mine their precious resources while getting the best deals, jobs and infrastructure left in place. The government of Canada wants to help Besco, at least to their faces. In actuality what they want is to strip Besco of as many as its resources as possible while investing as little financially as they can. The conflict is viewed through three women: a 25 year old newly elected MP named Félixe, the president of Besco, Madame Richard, and an American mediator Emily Price. The women all try to stay as cold and distant from each other as their profession demands but a few brief flirtations with friendship arise between Price and each woman. Not that that's really the point of the movie. While the personal conflicts of each women get a few minutes of screen time (Félixe has trouble adjusting to the cynicism of politics, Richard is only president to build a better future for her kids, but then ironically has no time for them, and Emily who is so great at her job as a negotiator is failing to negotiate her own life as her husband is filing for sole custody of their kid) all of the problems are so trite and clichéd they feel stale. At one point Emily learns that her husband has officially filed against her and so she takes to the dance floor to let loose.

You would think since the women are such cut outs that at least the negotiations would be interesting but their not really. Again, Robichaud infuses her film with clichés as she intercuts footage of school kids brawling outside with the adults arguing inside. A huge part of the negotiations are also covered in a montage. It's weirdly trite for such a great filmmaker as Robichaud. And she really is a great filmmaker. Despite the script that weighs her down there are many moments of deft beauty and humour that show in her craft. There's a great scene of all three women washing their hands in the bathroom, simply smiling politely at one another as the bounds of professionalism keep them from acknowledging each other any further. There are many slow and beautiful shots of the scenery and some clever and fun editing. It's just a pity that the story behind Boundaries just isn't enough to stay interesting.

A small gem of a film from Canada. "Boundaries" is about politics or rather it's about how politics impacts on the lives of three women involved in negotiations between delegations from Canada and the small island community of Besco to instigate mining on the island and is said to be based on real events. The women concerned are Besco's political leader, a girl working as a negotiator on the Canadian side and the perky blonde acting as mediator. In the end, the politics fade into the background as the personal lives of the women come to the fore.

What emerges is a wonderful picture of a tiny community trying to cope with the pressures of the outside world and an even finer picture of the lives of its female protagonists. Besco may look like a beautiful place, (it was actually filmed in St John's and Fogo Island standing in for Besco), but it's also a place where nothing much happens, a kind of island paradise where the only blot on the landscape is boredom.

It's beautifully photographed by Jessica Lee Gagne and writer/director Chloe Robichaud makes great use of music throughout while the three women are superbly played by Macha Grenon, Nathalie Doummar and Emily VanCamp. It's a small picture, as small in its way as the island on which the action takes place, but it has a large heart and a real sense of humour while the quality of Robichaud's writing and direction make this 'small' film one of the best I've seen this year.

Saw this at the Rotterdam film festival 2017 (website: iffr.com). While it was interesting to follow political negotiations from nearby, showing what happens before AND behind the scenes. My main problem is that it seems heavily biased towards showing problems that women have in order to survive in a professional environment. I'm at a loss why only the three main female protagonists have issues at home, while none of the other (mostly but not all male) participants in the negotiations has any, at least none that we get to see.

I also missed dramatic developments with either of the three. None was prepared for drastic changes, at least none that we were made aware of. We get the impression that Emily was dumped, but we only saw a one-sided phone conversation, so we must fill in the blanks and infer what happened from her tears. Félixe had written many reports but none seem actually used "they wiped their asses with it". Also, she is ordered after the first day to keep her mouth shut as this is no "student council meeting". Danielle tries seriously to do what is good for their country, but feels that she alienates herself from her family in the process.

On a positive note, the screen play mixes political and commercial negotiations nicely with personal and domestic matters. There were no boring moments, several interesting discussions inside and outside the meeting rooms, and there was progress all the time.

All in all, not a problem to sit through. The morale or the message that is forced upon us, however, is demeaning for our intelligence, as these domestic issues while at work are far from new nor in any way surprising. The audience awarded it a halfway 86th place (out of 172) with score 3.818 (out of 5).