La natura dell'amore

"Sophia" (Magalie Lépine Blondeau) is contentedly married to "Xavier" (Francis-William Rhéaume) - though they sleep in separate rooms, and is quite nervous about meeting the renovator of their newly acquired waterside chalet. Those nerves seem wholly justified when her arrival introduces her to the lively "Sylvain" (Pierre-Yves Cardinal) who tells her that the place is in riddled with carpenter beetles and is in need of tons of expensive modernisation! She's understandably upset and her tears have quite an effect on the man. Soon they are having a beer and, well you can guess the rest... It isn't just an one night stand, though - they can't stop thinking about each other and this doesn't bode well for her marriage. Their friendship, though loving, now throws up some difficulties. She's from a wealthy family and he's a man who works with his hands. Her family - especially her rather obnoxious brother "Olivier" (Guillaume Laurin) rather look down on the man but his mother "Guylaine" (Linda Sorgini) who has a penchant for rather ropey vin rosé and his family do take to her more readily. Can the two manage to make their own affections prevail against an accumulating series of challenges? There's an engaging chemistry between the two as we see their romance build, falter, thrive - is it real love or just an infatuation with both seeking that which they can never have? I'll be honest, the ending rather crept up on me - it wasn't what I wanted and certainly not what I expected, but it's effective nonetheless as auteur Monia Chokri throws down a bit of a gauntlet to impulse, lust and both a psychological and visceral sense of longing. Do we seek love, and would we know it if we found it or does it seek us so it can plays games with us? The story can seem a little contrived at times and it does play to stereotype now and again too, but it's still quite an impassioned watch with two solid efforts at the helm.

Romantic comedies usually aren't my favorite genre but filmmaker Monia Chokri creates a simple, sweet and fun romantic movie with strong performances, interesting camerawork, atmosphere, and style.

Throughout, the narrative is the typical romantic comedy setting with interesting themes of social class, sexuality, exploration and connection but Chokri's direction, writing and approach to the narrative works as it's clear the movie doesn't take itself fully seriously and there are some interesting and creative choices to explore the characters and setting. The characters are interesting to explore while at times some of the developments and dialogue moments between them felt a bit too forced and left to be desired.

The performances are pretty good with each actor giving wonderful chemistry and moments together. All in all, while it's not something grand or amazing, it's a good fun romantic comedy movie with a good energy. French Canadian cinema is oftentimes not discussed much and it deserves to be discussed more.

In order for a film like this to work, one must try to convincingly portray academia and intelligence. These were just vapid, incredibly pretenious characters. It's so unbelievably and unconvincingly far from what I imagine to be the filmmakers objective, it's sadly laughable.

Maybe when trying to construct a narrative that works, incorporate some research into actual intelligence. Of course it helps if you have some on hand yourself if attempting such narrative. None to be found. Imposters at best, not even achieving that, at worst.

Even the love story fails miserable, no chemistry, no storyline and quite unconvincing from the start.

Who would care for even a second about this narcissistic losers? Really poor filmmaking. The French do it again. So few noteworthy films.

There's a lot of good things in Simple comme Sylvain. The chemestry between the two main actors is awesome and the tension is incredible in the first act. Christine Beaulieu is also fantastic in a perfect anticasting. Bonus points for Still Loving You being so well integrated. Sadly the direction and photography just annoyed me too much and make me loose immersion. There's a point in the film where all shots are claustrophobic, use a object to hide parts of the characters, are digitally cropped and loosw resolution or leverages a veil. There's also that annoying fast zoom that just takes me out of it. Sad because other than that it was a great movie.

Loved that film! An authentic journey into Quebec culture.

Acting is great, pictures are magnificent, but the thing that got me hooked was the amount of great moments of discomfort and chaos. Made me uncomfortable but in a way I enjoyed.

*** Dont believe the bad reviews***

First, it is not a romantic comedy. While comedy is present, it is pretty dark and I would describe it more as a drama, as well as a love dilemma.

Also, I saw reviews saying it is very much based on stereotypes. While a part of that might be true, you have to remember it's still a movie so it has to be a bit polarizing. But, as quebecois that lived both in Montreal and the suburbs/coutryside, I could relate to every situation in the film and I have to say, it was very accurate.

Loved the ending too.

9/10.