Metro Cinema Society: Familia

Familia

Canada 2005, 102 min, 35mm, Dir: Louise Archambault
French with English subtitles

Archambault's taut, fast-paced and visually inventive film tackles the complexities that arise from familial bonds with humour, sympathy, and a pervasive air of bittersweet desperation. Michèle (Sylvie Moreau), a free-spirited aerobics instructor and gambling addict, is cut off by her boyfriend after yet another devastating loss at the casino. Meanwhile, Michèle's 14-year-old daughter, Marguerite (Mylène Saint-Sauveur), wakes up disoriented on a bathroom floor after an all-night rave. She arrives home to the familiar sight of her mother packing their things so they can move out on the sly. Michèle's childhood friend, Janine (Macha Grenon), an interior designer with a teenage daughter of her own, reluctantly allows them to stay with her. Janine is seemingly living the suburban dream, but conflicting traits and values begin to bubble over as both women try to refine their mothering skills, and are forced to deal with the fallout caused by online sex, double lives, and unexpected pregnancies. Archambault's Familia is all at once intense, consuming, funny, and heart-breaking. (TIFF) Familia won the Best Canadian First Feature award at 2005's Toronto International Film Festival and was photographed by André Turpin, Archambault's husband and the director of Un crabe dans la tete.