Café de Flore

Jean-Marc Vallée: Cafe de Flore (CA/FR 2011) starring Vanessa Paradis (Jacqueline) with her son Laurent (Marin Gerrier).

Café de Flore / Café de Flore.
    CA/FR © 2011 Productions Café de Flore / Monkey Pack Films. PC also: Item 7 / Crazy Films. P: Pierre Even, Marie-Claude Poulin.
    D+SC: Jean-Marc Vallée. DP: Pierre Cottereau – 35 mm – digital intermediate – post-production: Fake Studio – 2K: Technicolor Montréal. PD: Patrice Vermette. Cost: Ginette Magny. Makeup: Frédéric Marin. Hair: Frédéric Birault. SFX: Guillaume Murray. VFX: Fake Studio - Marc Cote, Sylvain Theroux. S: Blaise Blanchier. Casting: Constance Demontoy.
    C: Vanessa Paradis (Jacqueline), Kevin Parent (Antoine Godin), Hélène Florent (Carole), Evelyne Brochu (Rose), Marin Gerrier (Laurent), Alice Dubois (Véronique), Evelyne de la Chenelière (Amélie), Michel Dumont (Julien Godin), Linda Smith (Louise Godin), Joanny Corbeil-Picher (Juliette), Rosalie Fortier (Angéline), Michel Laperrière (psychologist), Caroline Bal (Véronique's mother), Nicolas Marié (Véronique's father), Pascal Elso (Paul), Jérôme Kircher (Louis), Claire Vernet (Mrs. Labelle), Manon Balthazard (school teacher), Émile Vallée (Antoine at 14), Chanel Fontaine (Carole at 14), Emanuelle Beaugrand-Champagne (medium).
    Special participation: Emmanuelle Riva.
    Loc: Paris (Café de Flore, 172 Boulevard Saint-Germain), Montréal.
    120 min.
    Released by Atlantic Film with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Hannele Vahtera.
    2K DCP viewed at Kinopalatsi 6, Helsinki, 15 September 2012.

The official synopsis: "Healing a broken heart isn't easy. Sometimes it takes a lifetime...or two. - Cafe de Flore is a love story about people separated by time and place but connected in profound and mysterious ways. Atmospheric, fantastical, tragic and hopeful, the film chronicles the parallel fates of Jacqueline, a young mother with a disabled son in 1960s Paris, and Antoine, a recently-divorced, successful DJ in present day Montreal. What binds the two stories together is love - euphoric, obsessive, tragic, youthful, timeless love."

AA: Two stories. Montréal, 2011: perfect happiness in top DJ Antoine's family, yet Antoine leaves his wife-soulmate Carole for a young girlfriend Rose. Paris 1969: the young mother Jacqueline gives birth to a baby with a Down syndrome. She fights like a tiger for her son's right to live to the full.

There are interesting observations in both stories. "I am a deejay, I am what I play" is true about Antoine, and the compilation soundtrack of the movie (see beyond the jump break) is of the essence to the story. The theme of songs as carriers of distinction and identification, carriers of memories is interesting. The tune "Café de Flore" is heard in its electro, chill out and lounge versions, and it becomes a theme for Antoine's new love. The children sabotage Antoine's feelings by playing their mother's favourite records.

The story of Jacqueline and her mongoloid son Laurent is one of "un amour mythique", "plus fort que la vie". It's a constant fight in every stage, and Jacqueline is indefatigable. The surprise is the seven year old Laurent's friendship / love affair with another child with a Down syndrome, Véronique. It is also a love affair across the class barrier. They love each other too much, and their parents have to separate them forcibly.

Café de Flore presents different aspects of love - narcissistic (Antoine's new affair maybe), and endlessly unselfish (Jacqueline's love of her son). What maybe connects them is revealed by a medium. Jacqueline, Laurent, and Véronique were killed in a car accident, and Carole, Antoine, and Rose are reincarnations. The movie ends with a hug of the present day threesome. Plot-wise this remains a trick ending.

Visually there are interesting explorations in the movie, but the free associations sometimes switch to mannerisms of le cinéma du look.

Shot on photochemical 35 mm film, Café de Flore often cultivates an intentionally soft look conveyed in the 2K DCP presentation.
CAFÉ DE FLORE
(Matthew HERBERT)
Bucks Music Group
Interpreted by Matthew HERBERT
With the authorisation of Accidental Records

CAFÉ DE FLORE
(Matthew HERBERT)
Bucks Music Group
Interpreted by Doctor ROCKIT
With the authorisation of Accidental Records

ALL ALRIGHT
(Jon THOR BIRGISSON, Orri PALL Dyrason, Georg HOLM, Kjartan SVEINSSON)
Universal Music Publishing
Interpreted by SIGUR ROS
With the authorisation of Beggars Group

SVEFN-G-ENGLAR
(Jon THOR BIRGISSON, August AEVAR GUNARSSON, Georg HOLM, Kjartan SVEINSSON)
Universal Music Publishing
Interpreted by SIGUR ROS
With the authorisation of Pias

FLJOTAVIK
(Jon THOR BIRGISSON, August AEVAR GUNARSSON, Georg HOLM, Kjartan SVEINSSON)
Universal Music Publishing
Interpreted by SIGUR ROS
With the authorisation of Beggars Group

ANDVARI
(Jon THOR BIRGISSON, Orri PALL DYRASON, Georg HOLM, Kjartan SVEINSSON)
Universal Music Publishing
Interpreted by SIGUR ROS
With the authorisation of Universal Music Group et EMI Music Canada

SPEAK TO ME
(Nick MASON, Roger WATERS)
The Richmond Organization pour Hampshire House Publishing - Pink Floyd Music Publishing
Interpreted by PINK FLOYD
With the authorisation of EMI Music Canada

BREATHE
(David GILMOUR, Roger WATERS, Richard WRIGHT)
The Richmond Organization pour Hampshire House Publishing - Pink Floyd Music Publishing -
Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Interpreted by PINK FLOYD
With the authorisation of EMI Music Canada
8 Café de Flore

TIME
(David GILMOUR, Roger WATERS, Richard WRIGHT, Nick MASON)
The Richmond Organization pour Hampshire House Publishing - Pink Floyd Music Publishing -
Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Interpreted by PINK FLOYD
With the authorisation of EMI Music Canada

FAITH
(Laurence TOLHURST, Simon GALLUP, Robert James SMITH)
Universal Music Publishing
Interpreted by The CURE
With the authorisation of Universal Music Group

PICTURES OF YOU
(William BRANSBY, Simon GALLUP, Robert SMITH,
Paul THOMPSON, Laurence TOLHURST, Roger O’DONNELL)
Universal Music Publishing
Interpreted by The CURE
With the authorisation of Elektra/Wea & Universal Music Group

JUST LIKE HEAVEN
(William BRANSBY, Simon GALLUP, Robert SMITH,
Paul THOMPSON, Laurence TOLHURST, Roger O’DONNELL)
With the authorisation of FLORENT et Kevin PARENT
Universal Music Publishing

A MEANINGFUL MOMENT THROUGH A MEANING (LESS) PROCESS
(Adam WITZIE)
Kranky Limited
Interpreted by STARS OF THE LID
With the authorisation of de Kranky Limited

WALK ON THE WATER
(Tom FOGERTY, John FOGERTY)
Jondora Music, a division of Fantasy Inc.
Interpreted by CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL (CCR)
With the authorisation of Concord Music Group

SO IN LOVE
(Cole PORTER)
Warner Chappell Music Inc.
Interpreted by par Dinah Washington
With the authorisation of Universal Music Group

BIG FREEZE
(Serge PELLETIER, Mathieu PONTBRIAND, Christian BAANG, Joseph PERRAULT, Sara BELLE
HUMBLE)
Éditorial Avenue
Interpreted by PAWA UP FIRST
With the authorisation of Dare to Care Records
9 Café de Flore

NAVVAATARA
(Élisapie ISAAC)
Avalanche Sound Publishing
Interpreted by Élisapie ISAAC
With the authorisation of Maple Music Recordings

COMME UN SOLEIL
(Pierre DELANOË, Michel FUGUAIN, George BLANESS)
Big Baazar Music Publishing Co. pour Éditions Musicales Le Minautore

CORONA RADIATA
(Michael Trent REZNOR)
Form and Texture Inc.
Interpreted by NINE INCH NAILS
With the authorisation of The Null Corporation

LE VENT NOUS PORTERA
(Bertrand CANTAT, Denis BARTHE)
Universal Music Publishing
Interpreted by Sophie HUNGER
With the authorisation of Two Gentlemen Records

GOD’S TILT
Composed and interpreted for the film by Luc RAYMOND and Benoît VEILLEUX

CAFÉ DE FLORE, a cappella, was interpreted by Vanessa PARADIS and Evelyne BROCHU
and LES PETITS CHANTEURS DU MONT-ROYAL under the direction of Gilbert PATENAUDE.
choral arrangement Serge ARCURI