Café de Flore Reviews

Jean-Marc Vallee's Cafe de Flore is a overcooked mess. There are so many elements here which feels half-baked and uneven that to list them all would take a hell of a lot time from me.
Vallee is certainly ambitious director and storyteller when it comes to his two parallel stories between present day and 60's Paris. At first we in the audience do not know how these two stories are actually linked, but when it finally becomes clear the answer is just utterly ridicilous and nonsense.
This film clearly aims to please so called art-house audiences, but in the end it just feels more like an parody of an art-film. Vallee is much more interested in his visual stylistics than his thinly plotted screenplay.
Film's biggest strenght is the story about mother and her disabled son living in 60's Paris. Actress Vanessa Paradis has power and talent to make her single parent feel quite complex and authentic character with many interesting nuances. Same cannot be said from rest of the cast whose stories and characters are way too thin to be nothing to get interested in.
Mixing hallucinatory images with dreamlike story structure only drowns this film into it's own artsy aesthetics. Cafe de Flore is a brave attempt from it's director, but in the end it is just film filled with silly mumbo jumbo about reincarnation, dreams and life itself. All this with annoying overuse of constantly pounding soundtrack.

'Cafe de Flore'. Love, its dizzying highs and lows, and everything else in between, in this brave, stunning, deeply affecting film.

I am still reeling from this thing, three hours later. What starts as two seemingly separate, simple stories about love, takes a very dark, spiritual turn, and in the process, explores "love" in its many forms.

I say two simple stories in relation to where the story goes, but they aren't simple by any means.

It almost feels wrong to call the raw, incredible compassion shown by Jacqueline to her Down Syndrome son, Laurent "acting". Vanessa Paradis is outstanding as a mother who has given all her love and devoted her life to her son, expecting nothing less than the same in return. The introduction of Vero, and Laurent's "I love her like I love you" sets things unravelling.

The present day story is equally compelling, and thematically parallel in its telling of Carole, a woman like Jacqueline, who has only ever loved one person, but loses him to another, and cannot move on. They both still reminisce, and the way this whole film is edited, switching effortlessly between tones, stories and timeframes, is rather brilliant! Joyful, motherly love to a lost teen romance to the increasingly dark visions of Carole, that consistently unsettled me.

In the short time I've had to process this, I've thought about the ending in a couple of different ways. I didn't know what to make of it at first, then felt the film would have worked just fine without connecting of the two storylines from a narrative perspective, bar Carole's visions.

Then I thought about it again, and what Carole's "sorry" to Antoine meant. This is a Carole that has come to terms with the connection, and what she did as Jacqueline to Laurent and Vero. This Carole has finally let go, understanding that love is sadly not 1:1.

I'd be amiss not to mention the soundtrack. It's probably my favourite of the year to date. The characters, especially Laurent, and his reincarnate, Antoine, are linked via the track 'Cafe de Flore'. Music means a lot to these two, translating naturally to the importance the soundtrack has to the audience.

The experience of being challenged by cinema is one I thoroughly enjoy. This is not easy going, but it's damn rewarding.

Jean-Marc Vallee is one of Canada's most daring and best filmmakers. In fact, Canada's best films tend to come from Quebec - Incendies, The Barbarian Invasions, Polytechnique, and C.R.A.Z.Y to name a few. And up to a certain point, I was ready to add Vallee's newest film, Cafe de Flore to that list. Unfortunately, somewhere around the film's third act, the film just lost me. A very ambitious picture about very complicated people with a great soundtrack to boot, everything that it had going for it fell apart from a lack of direction, or simply a mash-up of strange, existential ideas that all of a sudden get thrown into the story at random.
Following a very discontinuous editing pattern, the narrative follows two parallel stories - one in present day Montreal about a club DJ who has just divorced his high school sweetheart (and mother of his two children), and is now remarrying, the other in 1960s Paris about a mother with a Down syndrome child who struggles to provide that child with the most "normal" upbringing she can manage. The film balances these stories very well, and links them through the film's title, which refers to a song that both main characters love. Traces of Wong Kar Wai's Chungking Express are evident, and the beautifully composed shots juxtaposed with a lounge induced soundtrack make for what is almost a perfect art-house experience.
Yet all of a sudden the third act delves into a David Lynch horror picture, bringing up themes of reincarnation, a contrived drug relapse for characters you didn't even know were addicts in the first place (one was an alcoholic, but the drug part comes out of nowhere), the Parisian mother ends up tying her son to a bed to keep him from seeking out the girl he loves, sleepwalking, an annoyingly cliche dream sequence, and a ending that toots some magical clue to unlocking the picture. It just screams pretentious and shocking for the sake of being shocking. This third act completely undermines the film's touching and intriguing previous two thirds. Some people may love this film for its jarring and strange twists. I just kept asking myself, "where is Vallee going with this?" And wherever the hell we ended up, I just didn't care.

"Cafe de Flore" is an endearing and thought provoking movie that wonders if some things are always meant to be. Jumping back and forth skillfully between two different storylines, including one that is unstuck in time, the movie does a good job of connecting the dots in a figurative sense. But when it comes to literally doing so, it could be said to resolve events too neatly for such complicated emotions.

In a straightforward narrative set in 1960's Paris, Jacqueline(Vanessa Paradis) is left to being a single mother after she refuses to give up her newborn son Laurent(Marin Gerrier) with Down Syndrome and her husband lacks the balls to stand by her. So, she becomes his advocate and knight in shining armor, doing research on not only extending his life, but also giving him a better quality of life by mainstreaming him at school.

At first, Antoine(Kevin Parent), a popular club DJ, and Rose(Evelyne Brochu) seem to be living the perfect life with their daughters in present day Montreal. As one could tell by their still rambunctious sex life and confirmed later, Rose and Antoine have not been together for long. In high school, Antoine met Carole(Helene Florent), sharing a mutual love for music and falling deeply in love with each other. So, it should not come as a surprise that Carole is bitter over the breakup, even as she shares custody of the girls, and suffers from sleepwalking and a questionable taste in books. At the same time, Antoine is a recovering addict, not only having to deal with his own demons, but those he inherited from his father(Michel Dumont), himself an alcoholic.

A fascinating, emotional take on the subtleties of love, "Cafe De Flore" is one of the best efforts to come out of Quebec cinema since Denis Villeneuve's "Incendies". The film follows parallel stories taking place in two different temporal spaces. In 1960s France, young single mother Jacqueline (Vanessa Paradis, known as Johnny Depp's now-ex wife) struggles to raise her son with Down Syndrome, while in present day Montreal, club DJ Antoine (Kevin Parent) tries to navigate through a recent divorce, as well as an intense new relationship, and how it effects those closest to him. It's the emotional resonance, particularly of the acting, that binds this movie together. Writer-director Jean-Marc Vallée implores the audience to take a leap of faith in the closing twenty minutes that may seem ridiculous to some but, if you're as invested in the characters as I was, it still provides a massive payoff and ties the two stories up nicely. Beautifully photographed, wonderfully acted (especially from Hélène Florent, portraying Antoine's ex) and featuring a standout soundtrack of recognizable hits, "Flore" is quite the loose-limbed experience that foreign-language enthusiasts should not miss.

Absolutely haunting and brilliant story telling. This one stays with you long after the final credits. One of the most original Canadian scripts that I have seen depicting in a long time.

Typical canadian attempt at artful expression by mish mash meaningles sick relationships. Sick because there is display of unhealthy psychological damage being done to a child by his mother through the way she mothers him. Adults incapable of being emotionaly free and independant, they are imprisoned in relationships. Unhealthy, rotten versions of pretensious love that does not touch the inner soul.
Stil it is fun to watch it all and appreciate its meaningles line that comes from nowhere and ends nowhere. In between a tastefull load of nonsense, is this art? I question that but must admit it was entertaining.

Simply a beautiful love story!

I found this more compelling that Vallee's CRAZY, even if it all seems a bit silly in the way it's tied up by the end.

A fantastical odyssey of love, Café de Flore is a love story between a man & a woman and between a woman & her son. The story is told in flashbacks, fast forwards & cross cutting narration. We are introduced to Antoine in present day Montreal, living a successful life with his loving partner & two beautiful daughters. Next introduction is of Jacqueline, a single parent with a disabled son in 1960s Paris whose life isn't all sunshine. The rest of the film is the slow & steady peeling of its layers to depict the connection between these two stories. Overall, Café de Flore is a wonderfully layered, brilliantly photographed & intriguing story but is downsized by its overlong runtime & metaphysical complexities, resulting in a mixed multilayered experience.

My favorite movie ever!!

Awesome movie.....my new best movie......a movie that deeply moved my soul.....magic sound track......beautifully acted and captured on film.....this rating 62% does not do it justice.....this is a must see movie!!!!!!

...lost track of this and I found it very confusing ~ two stories run side by side that were, as far as I could see, completely unrelated and had nothing in common. All got very 'mixed up' for me as I tried to fathom out what was really going on. Two central figures were Antoine (Kevin Parent) and Jacqueline (Vanessa Paradis), a successful DJ and a single, struggling mother respectively. I found myself looking for a link between the two parallels, which either didn't emerge or didn't exist, and started to lose interest mid way as the mixed up story line became more and more murky. The acting was good, especially by the younger cast, and some of the music was good, but not one for me.

"Remove the subtitles, and it's one of Cameron Crowe's head-in-the-clouds dramas, as scripted by M Night Shyamalan: an insultingly arbitrary reveal, preceded by vast, wailing washes of Pink Floyd and Sigur Rós. A very vanilla sky, this. A mess of a movie!

A stylish, compelling and intricate drama that brings an unique and original (albeit far-fetched or preposterous for some) perspective on love, loss and relationships. The film brilliantly finds a common ground for audience to resonate with its themes even with its "spiritual" and "psychic" elements regarding incarnations and parallel universe.

I love this movie, it is the most true depiction of heartbreak I have seen and with an amazing soundtrack. I don't get how anyone thinks it is about reincarnation, rather it is about how the mind will convince itself of any possibility for reconciliation or magic in a flawed world. It really is stunning and it is too bad that the ending has been misinterpreted by so many because the parallel story with Vanessa Paradis is sublime and the desperate wishing of the ex to believe that there is a "higher meaning" to her love is so poignant. Love it and wish that the soundtrack will be released.

Best movie I've seen all year.

"Cafe de Flore" is an endearing and thought provoking movie that wonders if some things are always meant to be. Jumping back and forth skillfully between two different storylines, including one that is unstuck in time, the movie does a good job of connecting the dots in a figurative sense. But when it comes to literally doing so, it could be said to resolve events too neatly for such complicated emotions.

In a straightforward narrative set in 1960's Paris, Jacqueline(Vanessa Paradis) is left to being a single mother after she refuses to give up her newborn son Laurent(Marin Gerrier) with Down Syndrome and her husband lacks the balls to stand by her. So, she becomes his advocate and knight in shining armor, doing research on not only extending his life, but also giving him a better quality of life by mainstreaming him at school.

At first, Antoine(Kevin Parent), a popular club DJ, and Rose(Evelyne Brochu) seem to be living the perfect life with their daughters in present day Montreal. As one could tell by their still rambunctious sex life and confirmed later, Rose and Antoine have not been together for long. In high school, Antoine met Carole(Helene Florent), sharing a mutual love for music and falling deeply in love with each other. So, it should not come as a surprise that Carole is bitter over the breakup, even as she shares custody of the girls, and suffers from sleepwalking and a questionable taste in books. At the same time, Antoine is a recovering addict, not only having to deal with his own demons, but those he inherited from his father(Michel Dumont), himself an alcoholic.

Great cinematography style, good performances, characters and story are interesting. Overall around 30 minutes too long and it really lost momentum and credibility by the third act. Overly romantic and sentimental which avoided some really interesting and disturbing elements, that were unfortunately bungled. Overall still a solid film.