After plunging her car into a river, a woman encounters a man who helps her come to terms with her life.After plunging her car into a river, a woman encounters a man who helps her come to terms with her life.After plunging her car into a river, a woman encounters a man who helps her come to terms with her life.After plunging her car into a river, a woman encounters a man who helps her come to terms with her life.After plunging her car into a river, a woman encounters a man who helps her come to terms with her life.
Zhenhu Han
- Mr. Koumsawoutas Mr. Koumsawout
- (voice)
- (as Hu Han Zhen)
On the surface, twenty-five year old Bibiane Champagne has the perfect life. She is the daughter of the famed Flo Fabert. She co-owns a chain of boutiques in Quebec with her brother, Philippe. But Bibi's life is in shambles. She has just had an abortion. And the boutiques are failing because of her incompetence, which is the result of or has led to her substance abuse. It is also the result of the high expectations on her. Bibi's story is told by a fish awaiting decapitation on a butcher's block, the fish as narrator largely because of the singular and accidental encounter she has with fifty-three year old Norwegian fishmonger, Annstein Karlsen. That encounter leads to a further failed decision by Bibi and a meeting with Annstein's son, Evian Karlsen, who does not know the full extent of Bibi and his father's relationship. Bibi's time with Evian may provide some salvation to her crumbling life. —Huggo
Top review
a regular artsy-wannabe movie
I went to see the movie because it got excellent reviews from the local newspapers and websites here in Vancouver. I'd seen "Possible Worlds" a few weekends before, and it was truly an excellent movie, no cliches... silence used to build up angst and suspense....
Maelstrom was nothing like it. It was a cross between a bad French comedy and a pretentious artsy movie. Trying to rid the plot from cliches and predictability, it was filled with the most absurd of situations. True, it was sometimes funny, and sometimes powerful - but it just seemed like a bunch of references scattered on screen, with music, imagery and pause used not to built the story, but to shock through being "unexpected" and "French artsy".
But it was worth seeing. French-Canadian movies have a feeling of Nordic melancholy that can turn to the good or the bad. Mostly they turn to the good. and some turn nowhere. Like Maelstrom.
Maelstrom was nothing like it. It was a cross between a bad French comedy and a pretentious artsy movie. Trying to rid the plot from cliches and predictability, it was filled with the most absurd of situations. True, it was sometimes funny, and sometimes powerful - but it just seemed like a bunch of references scattered on screen, with music, imagery and pause used not to built the story, but to shock through being "unexpected" and "French artsy".
But it was worth seeing. French-Canadian movies have a feeling of Nordic melancholy that can turn to the good or the bad. Mostly they turn to the good. and some turn nowhere. Like Maelstrom.
helpful•811
- maximo23
- Feb 14, 2001
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