52 Films by Women Vol 10. 16. TWO WOMEN (Deux Femmes En Or) (Director: Chloé Robichaud)

 

Pictured: Violette (Laurence Leboeuf, left) and Florence (Karine Gonthier-Hyndman, right) in a scene from the Montreal-set comedy, 'Two Women' ('Deux Femmes en or'), a remake of a 1970 film written by Catherine Léger and directed by Chloé Robichaud. Still courtesy of Icon Film Distribution (UK)  

The Canadian film industry supports many first-time feature-film directors. However, it does not primarily work to commercial imperatives. Telefilm Canada’s 2024/25 annual report contrasts $81.7 million spent on Canadian film production in a financial year with $23.5 million earned by Canadian films in ticket sales. Success is measured in terms of prestige. One of the films singled out is the 2025 remake of the 1970 French language Canadian film, Deux Femmes En Or (English title Two Women), which won the Special Jury Award at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. This film has received a welcome release in the UK, albeit not in the major cinema chains (Cineworld, Odeon, Picturehouse and Vue).  This is disappointing. Deux Femmes En Or is a genuine crowd pleaser, funny, shocking (‘pass me that bottle’), warm and empathetic. If only it was backed by publicity.

Deux Femmes En Or is unusual because it elevates the writer, Catherine Léger (best known for the films Babysitter and Charlotte a du Fun), who also produced the film, above the director, Chloé Robichaud, whose fourth feature this is. I would not classify the film as the work of a ‘director for hire’, but the screenplay certainly delivers. The remake takes the premise of the original – two bored housewives seek extra-marital sex – and gives it a 21^st Century feminist twist. The men rather than women are objectified, albeit when they are clothed.

We first see the two women of the title, Florence (Karine Gonthier-Hyndman) and new mother Violette (Laurence Leboeuf) stare out of their respective windows as Florence’s partner, David (Mani Soleymanlou) struggles to secure tarpaulin over a makeshift greenhouse. Both women live in a housing co-operative but don’t know each other socially. That is, until Violette visits her neighbour to discuss the crow-like sounds coming from her apartment; Violette complains to her partner, Benoît (Félix Moati) that their neighbour is an exhibitionist. However, Florence, who has a ten-year-old son, Max (Mateo Laurent Membreno Daigle) has not had sex in a while. The two women acknowledge each other, not least when Violette calls in pest control in the form of the company ‘Les Anges de Extermination’ – the nod to Luis Buñuel’s The Exterminating Angel made me smile. The specialist finds no evidence of vermin. Fed up of expressing breast milk into bottles, and ignorant that Benoît is having an affair with a colleague, Eli (Juliette Gariépy) Violette sends her baby daughter, Emma, to nursery. Then she exercises her libido in earnest.

The remake goes to places that its 1970 predecessor could not. In one scene, Benoît’s lover tells him that Violette had been assaulted, evidenced by her empathetic ‘Me Too’ social media posts. This prompts Benoît to make a frantic phone call. The couple discuss whether Violette can express solidarity without being a victim. It is hard to imagine that the 1970 film featured a nursery that has a wall rack containing multiple chairs for infants as the remake does; it put me in mind of medieval stocks for the under-twos. Housing cooperatives in Quebec flourished in the early 1970s, but it is fair to assume they weren’t a feature of the original film. Residents certainly weren’t concerned about carbon neutrality. When David proposes that the new greenhouse be powered by gas at a meeting attended by the two women, a sceptical cooperative member complains. Florence notes the support given to her husband by another resident, Jessica (Sophie Nélisse).

Pictured: Close inspection. Violette (Laurence Leboeuf) in a scene from the remake, 'Two Women', written by Catherine Léger and directed by Chloé Robichaud. Still courtesy of Icon Film Distribution (UK)  

Florence and Violette have a night out together in a bar, which ends in Florence slashing her own wrist and being escorted home by police. The spectre of depression haunts both women, though it becomes a source of comedy. ‘Our marriage only survives if one of us in on anti-depressants,’ says David, who helps himself to Florence’s pills once Florence stops taking them. Florence is appalled that her husband allowed her son to name the hamster after her. What were they thinking? In one scene, Violette helps herself to her neighbour’s hamster droppings to the disgust of David. What use could she have for them?

Motivated by the notion that monogamy is not a natural state, the women avail themselves of the handymen whom they employ. When Violette hires a man to clean her floors and starts joining in, ensuring that he can see her derrière, you are moved to laugh at her crushingly obvious flirtation. Ditto Florence luring a man who has installed a sixty-inch television in her bedroom to look at the screen from her bed; it is obvious where the scene will go. It is disappointing that in the 21^st Century none of the skilled professionals are women. We overlook this and chuckle, though perhaps not when Violette displays part of herself to an electrician working on a telegraph pole, then hides when he looks directly at her.

Pictured: Tempting the floor polisher, Violette (Laurence Leboeuf, right) in a scene from the Montreal-set film, 'Two Women', written by Catherine Léger and directed by Chloé Robichaud. Still courtesy of Icon Film Distribution (UK) 

There’s a nice scene in which the residents work on revitalising the community garden. Florence tries to tempt Jessica with alcohol, ostensibly to find out if she is sleeping with David. Another woman accepts instead. Violette is almost caught out when the exterminator acknowledges her in a café, after she showed him the hamster droppings and made her feelings explicit. He offers pointedly to return for an inspection, free of charge. Violette, who is out with Benoît, tells him that won’t be necessary.

The film builds to David and Benoît’s night out at a hockey match. The men are accompanied by Eli, who takes an interest in David in order to annoy Benoît. David’s unprescribed medicine intake mixed with alcohol catches up with him, causing both couples to reflect.

The funniest scene involves the discovery of Florence’s son’s hamster in a cupboard, traumatising the boy. It shouldn’t be entertaining but is. There is a less than subtle scene in which a plumber tells Florence that you don’t unblock a pipe by hitting it. Florence is keen for him to look elsewhere and ensures that he stares upwards.

Comedies generally entertain by showing characters doing the wrong thing for the right reasons. Deux Femmes En Or is no different. In the final scene, Léger and Robichaud acknowledge their MacGuffin. After we discover how the couples resolve their difficulties, the camera pans to reveal a crow cawing. Telefilm Canada doesn’t spend much of its budget growing an appetite for Canadian cinema overseas. Maybe it should.

Reviewed at Curzon Bloomsbury (Renoir Screen), Russell Square, Central London, Wednesday 8 April 2026, 12:20 screening