Somerville House released the special edition of this movie and really pushed the fact that viewers would get to see an “erotic” film starring Susan Sarandon. In doing so, the company did it a huge injustice, as this feature deserves better than that.
Set in Montreal, the story is less about sex (though it has that) and more about the divide between the English and the French, crime, and tackling the responsibilities that come with growing up. Sarandon plays Elizabeth, a model who makes a play for Jean-Pierre (Steve Fiset), who already has a lady and who is also involved in a series of robberies that are escalating in nature. Despite the hype, Sarandon is not the focus of this film, but she does bring some life to it.
The music, the fashion, the cinematography – it all screams 1970s, and that is a good thing (and the ending is out of the ’70s, too, if you must know). Unfortunately, this push to portray the film as erotic also does a disservice to Sarandon fans, who really will have no desire to see her in such a role. Yeah, you get to view her breasts (and a few others’, too), but Sarandon fans like to watch her act – not take her clothes off. And she does act here – you just can’t tell from reading the DVD box.
Forget about the sexual aspects of the film. Instead, watch this as a slice of Canadian cinema history, one that deals with the schism between the French and the English in a way that few other films out of Canada did in that time period. It’s not a cinematic masterpiece, but it is worthy of your eighty-one minutes … especially if ’70s era film is your thing.
Otherwise, you can enjoy the breasts.
