‘Two Women’: Sundance Review

Dir: Chloe Robichaud. Canada. 2025. 99mins

Ladies simply need to have enjoyable in Chloe Robichaud’s pleasing, smoothly-handled display adaptation of Catherine Leger’s stage success House Deliveries. Two Ladies brings a feminine sensibility to a traditional farce because the title characters discover that the important thing to happiness might lie within the pleasure of informal intercourse. The movie premieres in Sundance’s World Cinema Dramatic competitors, and its mixture of mildly steamy encounters and existential angst might entice an identical arthouse viewers as did Monia Chokri’s 2023 Cesar-award profitable comedy The Nature Of Love.

Brings a feminine sensibility to a traditional farce

Leger’s play is a contemporary model of the 1970 Claude Fournier movie Two Ladies In Gold, which explores the frustrations of two Montreal neighbours. She has additionally written the screenplay for this movie adaptation which, at occasions, carries echoes of Denys Arcand’s landmark Quebec cinema titles The Decline Of The American Empire (1986) and The Barbarian Invasions (2003). Two Ladies shouldn’t be as clearly political or provocative, however its reflections on fashionable relationships are engagingly comical, cynical and finally tender. 

Violette (Laurence Leboeuf) lives together with her husband Benoit (Felix Moati) however feels that their marriage has misplaced its spark for the reason that delivery of their daughter. Intercourse is only a reminiscence and Benoit’s work typically takes him away, continuously leaving her dwelling alone. She appears to be completely strapped to breast pumps expressing her milk. Her neighbour Florence (Karine Gonthier-Hyndman) lives together with her laidback associate David (Mani Soleymanou) and their 10 year-old son Max (Mateo Laurent Membreno Daigle). David spends extra time in his greenhouse than he does with Florence, and is satisfied that their relationship works greatest when certainly one of them is on anti-depressants.

Violette and Florence bond of their proximity and shared emotions of discontent. The 2 ladies are solely a balcony away in a housing cooperative block of flats. Robichaud (Sarah Prefers To Run, Days Of Happiness) does open out the fabric, capturing on 35mm and anchoring the movie in enticing views of Montreal’s snowy cityscapes and visits to bars, ice hockey video games and residents’ conferences. The movie nonetheless stays attuned to its theatrical roots, nonetheless, with a lot of the story unfolding inside the comfortable, cosy flats. Mirrors function extensively as characters scrutinise themselves or are caught in reflections. Framing appears designed to convey the characters are trapped or restricted by their circumstances. 

There are a lot of of the normal elements of farce right here, from coded conversations to misunderstandings, innuendo-laden dialogue and operating jokes. Robichaud and Leger respect these, however put them to the service of one thing much less frantic and extra considerate as they discover the complexities of motherhood, psychological well being and fashionable love.

Continually deserted, Violette and Florence deal with each passing male as an object of need. Ogling and fantasising turn into a approach of dealing with their day by day boredom and feeling that life is a disappointment. Then, Florence acts on her fantasies with the cable man and shortly numerous mushy porn eventualities are made flesh as each occupation from pest exterminator to plumber is booked to supply their companies.

The endorphin rush of infidelity is liberating and, the movie posits, possibly monogamy is only a vastly over-rated male idea anyway. Philosophical musings on what the ladies need, the hole between intercourse and love and the minefield of relationships add heft to some agreeable, mild-mannered comedy. Within the second half, Robichaud and Leger give extra weight to Benoit and David as in addition they begin to bond, and everyone seems to be pressured to think about what they’re placing in danger – and whether or not it’s all price it.