with “Social Hygiene,” which brought him the best director prize in the Berlinale Encounters sidebar (shared with Ramon and Silvan Zürcher for “The Girl and the Spider”). The tendency to dodge from sincerity to satire and vice versa is unmistakably self-serving, but parsing the foibles of this little comedy makes a pleasant diversion, for a film that largely amounts to stagey scenes of two people bellowing petty philosophies at each other across a blustery meadow.
In the first setup, composed of two-thirds sky and one third grassy field that rolls away to distant mountains, the dissipated Antonin (Maxim Gaudette) is disappointing his sister Solveig (Larissa Corriveau). Their very names may be reminiscent of Chekhov and Ibsen, and their declamations may have a ring of 19th-century dramaturgy to them, but these characters are carefully styled to appear somewhat timeless, and their exchanges are peppered with references to Volkswagens and discount mattresses.
In the first setup, composed of two-thirds sky and one third grassy field that rolls away to distant mountains, the dissipated Antonin (Maxim Gaudette) is disappointing his sister Solveig (Larissa Corriveau). Their very names may be reminiscent of Chekhov and Ibsen, and their declamations may have a ring of 19th-century dramaturgy to them, but these characters are carefully styled to appear somewhat timeless, and their exchanges are peppered with references to Volkswagens and discount mattresses.
- 3/16/2021
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
An aura of pure eccentricity billows off the new film by Québécois provocateur Denis Côté, like a fug of stale-smelling nitrous oxide. Akin to his prior work only in its magpie-like experimental sensibility, Social Hygiene finds the festival mainstay delving into the static visuals of filmed-theatre presentations, but with a postmodern streak that collapses historical eras and cinematic conventions at will. All through its compact but still satisfying 75-minute runtime, the viewer is liable to ask, “What on earth is this?”, and by its finale, this unanswered query feels rewarding as opposed to exasperating. But you can still feel Côté chuckling behind our backs.
Social Hygiene has an austerity of means initiated by a modest budget, although Côté has opted for this to harness the experimentation it frees up. So we have the majority of the action taking place in around half-a-dozen set-ups of static master shots, all photographed from...
Social Hygiene has an austerity of means initiated by a modest budget, although Côté has opted for this to harness the experimentation it frees up. So we have the majority of the action taking place in around half-a-dozen set-ups of static master shots, all photographed from...
- 3/2/2021
- by David Katz
- The Film Stage
There’s a whiff of Samuel Beckett about Denis Côté’s latest film, which is a rake’s progress of sorts and which, despite its title and its socially distant staging being perfect for these Covid times, was written back in 2015.
The film plays out in a number of deliberately stagey episodic encounters that a young man, Antonin (Maxim Gaudette) has with a series of women. Firstly, there’s his sister Solveig (Larissa Corriveau), who disapproves of his thievery. Then there’s his wife Eglantine (Evelyne Rompre), who finds his lack of commitment irritating, even as she has a dalliance with another man, Clovis. Antonin also has a lover, Cassiopee (Eve Duranceau), who is looking for more than he wants to offer. He’s not having much luck out of the bedroom either, being confronted by Aurore (Eleonore Loiselle), a woman whose car he has broken into and by Rose (Kathleen Fortin) – decked out.
The film plays out in a number of deliberately stagey episodic encounters that a young man, Antonin (Maxim Gaudette) has with a series of women. Firstly, there’s his sister Solveig (Larissa Corriveau), who disapproves of his thievery. Then there’s his wife Eglantine (Evelyne Rompre), who finds his lack of commitment irritating, even as she has a dalliance with another man, Clovis. Antonin also has a lover, Cassiopee (Eve Duranceau), who is looking for more than he wants to offer. He’s not having much luck out of the bedroom either, being confronted by Aurore (Eleonore Loiselle), a woman whose car he has broken into and by Rose (Kathleen Fortin) – decked out.
- 3/2/2021
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Following hard on the heels of the film’s selection for this year’s Berlin Film Festival Encounters section, director Denis Côté has shared a first trailer for his new movie “Social Hygiene,” the latest from the Canadian director who won a Silver Bear for 2013’s “Vic+Flo Saw a Bear.”
At first glance, if the trailer is anything to go by, “Social Hygiene” seems at first glance a perfect pandemic movie: characters talking much more than two meters apart in a fresh verdant Canadian countryside.
Côté, however, wrote the movie — even down to its title — in 2015 when alone on holiday in Sarajevo “in a state of alienation.” The only Covid-19 connection is the film’s expression of a desire to flee and to defy reality and his desire to make a comedy in such somber times, he’s said.
That escapist need is embodied in Antonin who’s confronted...
At first glance, if the trailer is anything to go by, “Social Hygiene” seems at first glance a perfect pandemic movie: characters talking much more than two meters apart in a fresh verdant Canadian countryside.
Côté, however, wrote the movie — even down to its title — in 2015 when alone on holiday in Sarajevo “in a state of alienation.” The only Covid-19 connection is the film’s expression of a desire to flee and to defy reality and his desire to make a comedy in such somber times, he’s said.
That escapist need is embodied in Antonin who’s confronted...
- 2/10/2021
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
“To me, music is the soul of the film,” Xavier Dolan said in an interview with Slant Magazine in 2012, just as his third feature Laurence Anyways was about to makes it premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section. More than most directors, it seems, Dolan seems to blur the line between film and music video, bringing the two together tastefully, offering interludes that are just as important to the whole of the film as any dialogue scene. These scenes, perhaps, allow Dolan to exercise his more indulgent side, but they give his films a gorgeous full bodied appeal. Also giving him the opportunity to experiment with technique, Dolan brings an inventiveness and assuredness to both forms unlike any director.
The 25 year-old director has taste, certainly, allowing the music he chooses (from The Knife to Celine Dion, from Duran Duran to Rufus Wainwright) to ebb and...
The 25 year-old director has taste, certainly, allowing the music he chooses (from The Knife to Celine Dion, from Duran Duran to Rufus Wainwright) to ebb and...
- 7/14/2014
- by Kyle Turner
- SoundOnSight
L’Affaire Dumont
Directed by Podz
Written by Danielle Danserau
Canada, 2012
It was only a matter of time before director Daniel Grou, better known to Québec movie and television buffs as Podz, an actor Marc-André Grondin worked together on a project. Over the past few years, each has experienced a rise in popularity amongst the public as well as increasing critical acclaim for their work. In many respects, while Denis Villeneuve arguably is still the Québec filmmaker whose name resonates most loudly at the moment, Podz is certainly not far behind. As for Grondin, ever since his standout performance in Jean-Marc Vallé’s C.R.A.Z.Y. back in 2005, he has been one of the most in-demand male actors in the province. Their first collaboration is L’Affaire Dumont, a familial and court room drama inspired by the real life nightmare experience by one Michel Dumont in the early to mid 1990s, when...
Directed by Podz
Written by Danielle Danserau
Canada, 2012
It was only a matter of time before director Daniel Grou, better known to Québec movie and television buffs as Podz, an actor Marc-André Grondin worked together on a project. Over the past few years, each has experienced a rise in popularity amongst the public as well as increasing critical acclaim for their work. In many respects, while Denis Villeneuve arguably is still the Québec filmmaker whose name resonates most loudly at the moment, Podz is certainly not far behind. As for Grondin, ever since his standout performance in Jean-Marc Vallé’s C.R.A.Z.Y. back in 2005, he has been one of the most in-demand male actors in the province. Their first collaboration is L’Affaire Dumont, a familial and court room drama inspired by the real life nightmare experience by one Michel Dumont in the early to mid 1990s, when...
- 9/13/2012
- by Edgar Chaput
- SoundOnSight
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