If, by and large, American cinema has taken a puritanical view on sex, leave it to our neighbors up north to craft a refreshingly frank, hilarious comedy of manners about seeking erotic pleasure when life has hit a dead end. Scripted by Catherine Léger from her own stage play Home Deliveries, itself inspired by Claude Fournier’s 1970 feature Two Women in Gold, Canadian director Chloé Robichaud’s Two Women is playful, raucous, and wholly heartfelt, a film not afraid to explore the dark corners of life when it comes to depression, infidelity, and the dullness that can set in during new motherhood. Its comedy-first approach comes with a comforting sense of tenderness and fleetness, shot on 35mm with a lively warmth by cinematographer Sara Mishara.
Living next to each other in their Quebec apartment complex, the two women, Florence (Karine Gonthier-Hyndman) and Violette (Laurence Leboeuf), have hit a sense of shared stagnation in their respective lives. Violette is more or less raising her new baby as a single parent while her husband Benoit (Félix Moati) takes frequent overnight work trips as cover to sleep with his co-worker (Juliette Gariépy, taking a far less disturbing role than her breakout in Red Rooms). Florence hasn’t had sex with her partner David (Mani Soleymanlou) in years as they settle into a monotonous daily routine while raising their prepubescent son. Neither woman feels very appreciated, in turn left with little to appreciate in life. When the nuisance of squawking crows that may or may not be orgasmic moans opens up a connection between the two, the noise introduces a recurring motif for sexual reawakening and begins a journey to seek sources of genuine pleasure as they endeavor to upturn the societal norms placed upon them.
With witty, pitter-patter dialogue handled deftly by the committed ensemble, Léger’s script takes a satisfyingly flippant approach to various topics a more polite film may tiptoe around. Early on, Florence tells David she’s getting off her antidepressants so she can boost her sex drive, which, from his perspective, creates an imbalance in their relationship, leading to him taking her prescription and thus flipping the libido issues. It’s just one of many clever exchanges that, verboten though he may be, feel plucked from Woody Allen’s finest work.
The now-horny Florence begins testing the waters by flashing a local construction worker and eventually seducing a local cable guy. Confiding in Violette her sexual escapades, Florence believes history invented monogamy centuries ago for men, not women, to try pacifying them and not lead to war. So begins Violette’s own awakening, leading to casual hookups with visiting exterminators, house cleaners, painters, and plumbers. Robichaud’s camera, in a refreshing reversal, renders men the objects of gaze and desire, a path to newfound freedom for the women. But their partners still get ample arc and even have their own moments for commiseration; spending time with Benoit and his mistress, Robichaud once again flips the script on the impetus for infidelity, with Benoit not finding happiness there either. Meanwhile, David’s straight-faced exasperation with Florence and Violette’s shenanigans, involving testing the waters of suicide and procuring hamster droppings, is a comical joy to witness.
“There are infinite kinds of pleasure we can experience together as humans, and we just have to give in and let ourselves be swept up in it,” a newly enlightened Florence quotes from a Catherine Dorion text, which proposes there’s a lack in universal sexual energy, the kind that makes people want to come together and change the world. In exploring this drive for pleasure with such a light tone, Two Women may play as a frothy trifle-of-sorts, but this is a strong suit, making it all the more pleasing to watch unfold. Finding new ways to draw humor out of the MeToo movement and carnal objectification, this is a limber, gratifying sex comedy that has more on its mind than successful innuendos and punchlines.
Two Women premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.
The post Sundance Review: Two Women Flips the Sex Comedy Script with Hilarious, Refreshing Frankness first appeared on The Film Stage.
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