Boris Without Beatrice
Canada • 1h 35m
Directed by Denis Côté • Drama • With James Hyndman, Simone-Élise Girard, Denis Lavant • 2016 • 93 minutes
The latest feature film by Québécois filmmaker Denis Côté (CARCASSES, CURLING, VIC + FLO SAW A BEAR), BORIS WITHOUT BEATRICE is a morality tale with fairy-tale inflections that focuses on Boris Malinovsky, an affluent, successful businessman who comports himself with an extreme degree of pride and arrogance. When his wife, a Minister of the Canadian Government, is rendered nearly catatonic by a mysterious depression, it triggers a series of events that brings Boris to the point of professional, personal, and even existential crisis.
His attempts to repair his relationships with his wife and estranged daughter are complicated by his affair with a colleague, and the dangerous relationship that develops with his young housekeeper. And to make matters worse, Boris has to contend as well with an enigmatic, threatening, and uncannily all-knowing figure, played – with typical relish and theatrical flair – by the great Denis Lavant. BORIS WITHOUT BEATRICE is at once a sharply observed character study, an unsparing portrait of the moneyed classes, and an audaciously dark fable.
"Four stars!" —Rolling Stone
"Beautiful to look at, the film showcases Côté's talents at building tone and theme through images and sounds." —The Globe and Mail
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