There’s one thing that feels nearly charmingly retro about Chloé Robichaud’s “Two Ladies,” a French Canadian comedy premiering at this yr’s Sundance Movie Pageant. It’s a “intercourse comedy” in the way in which that movies from the Sixties and ’70s was known as “intercourse comedies.” Maybe barely extra specific and positively extra feminist, however totally goofy in its exploration of the proclivities of the title characters. Neil Simon can be proud.
So, regardless of its very trendy exploration of feminine want, there’s one thing creaky about “Two Ladies,” a nagging sense that “haven’t we been right here already?” In a method, we’ve. “Two Ladies” is predicated on the 1970 Quebecois film “Two Ladies in Gold,” simply up to date for the current day. On this model, Violette (Laurence Leboeuf) and Florence (Karine Gonthier-Hyndman) meet within the eco-friendly complicated the place they each reside.
Violette is a brand new mother stricken by the sound of a crow. Perturbed by this noise however unable to find an precise animal, she has decided that the hen sounds she is listening to are literally her neighbor having wild intercourse, taunting her. However when she confronts that neighbor, Florence, Florence explains, despondently, she and her accomplice aren’t having any intercourse in any respect. Violette’s criticism makes Florence face this grim actuality. She decides to go off her antidepressants and get her libido again.
That she does in spectacular trend, first making strikes at a person who comes to put in her cable, after which some other man she brings into the condominium for some random renovation work. Quickly sufficient, Violette begins getting impressed, placing down bait for an exterminator in additional methods than one, if you happen to catch my drift.
As Violette and Florence are sowing their proverbial oats, their male counterparts are going by means of some crises of their very own. Violette’s husband Benoit (Félix Moati), a pharmaceutical rep, is having an affair together with his goth coworker Éli (Juliette Gariépy, of recent “Purple Rooms” fame). Éli, who is really utilizing Benoit only for intercourse, is extra interested in what’s happening together with his spouse than he’s. A recurring gag entails Benoit going right into a state of panic each time Éli reveals one thing about Violette’s habits to him.
In the meantime, David (Mani Soleymanlou), Florence’s different half, is so apprehensive about her going off her meds that he begins taking meds on his personal, with out a physician’s session. He’s a tragic determine, tending to his greenhouse and popping drugs.
Robichaud’s digicam has a deep love for her two heroines, Violette and Florence. Though they’re each spiraling in their very own method, she movies them with care, typically bathed in daylight. And whereas the intercourse scenes are deliberately foolish of their conceit, there’s additionally a real sexiness to them. Robichaud facilities the experiences on feminine pleasure, acknowledging its depth and its ridiculousness. For example, Florence rides the cable man till she orgasms. He’s left surprised, and slightly unfulfilled. It doesn’t matter.
However the screenplay by Catherine Léger is unfocused, and too reliant on topical buzzwords. (There’s a groan-worthy sequence about what it means to submit “#MeToo” on Fb.) Whereas the sexual journeys of Violette and Florence are well-developed, their inside lives aren’t. Florence’s psychological well being is handled glibly, and her profession as a translator is just briefly talked about. As for Violette, we’ve little sense of what her life was like earlier than her baby arrived. She’s a thinly drawn ball of nerves.
Different characters float out and in of the narrative, their functions frustratingly imprecise. Sophie Nélisse, finest recognized for her work on “Yellowjackets,” seems as a younger, scorching resident in Violette and Florence’s complicated. Her character is annoyingly self-righteous, but in addition very enticing and seemingly inquisitive about David. Nonetheless, there’s in the end no cause for her presence, regardless of the script teasing a higher calling.
Most aggravating is the way in which the movie neatly resolves all of its conflicts for the tip. Violette’s ultimate selection doesn’t make sense within the context of all the things she’s skilled over the course of the movie, and Florence’s simply manifests too shortly. It speaks to how underdeveloped all of the characters are, particularly the boys, who get moments of progress which might be all too fleeting.
Nevertheless, Robichaud retains the plot chugging, and engages her viewer along with her gauzy pictures and her adoration for the performances by Leboeuf and Gonthier-Hyndman. The actresses are the movie’s biggest asset, particularly of their willingness to throw themselves whole-heartedly into the plot. Leboeuf has a doe-eyed grace that immediately blossoms when she discovers her sense of enjoyment. Gonthier-Hyndman approaches her process with a strategic glint in her eye. Pleasure is her objective and he or she’ll cease at nothing to get it.
And but “Two Ladies” has nothing revolutionary to say about ladies’s want at this second in time. It feels prefer it may need been revelatory 10 years in the past, however now ladies deserve extra. Certain, intercourse is sweet, nevertheless it’s not sufficient.
Grade: B-
“Two Ladies” premiered on the 2025 Sundance Movie Pageant. It’s at present in search of U.S. distribution.
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