Two Women, 2025.
Directed by Chloé Robichaud.
Starring Laurence Leboeuf, Karine Gonthier-Hyndman, Mani Soleymanlou, Sophie Nélisse, Juliette Gariépy, Patrick Abellard, and Félix Moati.
SYNOPSIS:
Two struggling mothers grapple with unfulfilled expectations and societal pressures. As they navigate their roles as wives and professionals, one woman’s unexpected affair sparks a reevaluation of their lives and priorities.
Every morning, Violette (Laurence Leboeuf) is convinced that the crow sounds she hears at around 6:30 every morning are actually moans of pleasure heard through the thin walls of the building, coming from her neighbor Florence (Karine Gonthier-Hyndman.) Violette also amusingly mimics the sound of a crow blended with sexual moaning. If that sounds like an amusing running joke (and it should since it is funny every single time), the humor of director Chloé Robichaud’s Two Women will click.
Catherine Léger’s screenplay is also equally thorny, dabbling in adultery committed by men and women while also suggesting that sexual energy is the key to happiness and that monogamy was invented exclusively for men. On maternity leave, Violette is also breastfeeding and, as a result, has lost her sex drive. This also means that the work trips her partner Benoit (Félix Moati) takes also consist of having an affair with Eli (Juliette Gariépy, so phenomenally unreadable and chilly in last year’s underseen Red Rooms that her presence automatically makes this film worth seeking out), a woman attracted to him for unusual reasons and whom pays attention to his partner (albeit from afar through social media) and observing more than he does.
To Violette’s surprise, upon confronting Florence about hearing sexual intercourse through the walls and inquiring if it’s about “auditory exhibitionism,” she unexpectedly discovers that she and her partner David (Mani Soleymanlou) haven’t had sex in a long time. Between maternity leave and temporarily away from work, these moms are on different ends of existential pain. Violette is restless and excitable, whereas Florence isn’t feeling much of anything. Florence also doesn’t have much of a sex drive because of her medication, with David insisting she stays on it. He is so buried in his work that it comes across as it would be a burden on him if she were horny.
Naturally, Florence decides to stop taking that medication. She also begins sexually charged flirtations with workers who stop by the home (in some cases, she starts breaking things so she has someone to employ and tease), which also carries over into Violette’s life once the baby is enrolled into daycare. She stops pumping milk from her breasts, getting horny again. While dramatic elements are at play in these fascinating, rocky relationships, these flirtations are played for laughs just as much as lust. It fits the more lightweight, playful approach to the material.
Pleasantly, Two Women isn’t a film about soapy melodrama through adultery but instead aims to challenge perceptions of relationships, monogamy, and happiness. When one of these men discovers what their partner is doing behind their back, they don’t respond with jealousy or anger but with more nuanced actions. There is a nonjudgmental approach to the material, which works and often allows these characters to feel like real people. It ends somewhat abruptly and doesn’t entirely deal with everything it brings up satisfactorily, but it’s frequently funny, horny, and thought-provoking.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association, Critics Choice Association, and Online Film Critics Society. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews and follow my BlueSky or Letterboxd
