52 Films by Women Vol 8. 50. Simple Comme Sylvain (The Nature of Love) (Director: Monia Chokri)
Pictured: 'Carpenter ants! I hate those guys.' Sylvain ( Pierre-Yves Cardinal , right) makes an assessment to an increasingly distraught Sophia ( M agalie Lépine Blondeau , gauche) in the French-Canadian romantic comedy, ' Simple Comme Sylvain ', written and directed by Monia Chokri . Still courtesy of Music Box Films (US) French Canadian cinema exhibits a curious insularity. French language films made on the American continent quoting French philosophers while exhibiting Catholicism, they exist in a proud bubble. I struggle to name cast members of the films of Denys Arcand and Robert Lepage . The films don’t travel, as if unclaimed luggage on an airport carousel bearing quotes from Diderot and Jean-Jacques Rousseau instead of name tags. French Canadian cinema didn’t refuse to sit on the back of the bus. It would rather walk. Actor-writer-director Monia Chokri ’s second film, Simple Comme Sylvain , embraces the bubble. Filmed in the style of a 1970s movie, comple...