Director: Patrick Demers
Screenplay: Patrick Demers, Sophie Cadieux, Maxime Denommée, Benoît Gouin
Producers: Cédric Bourdeau, Stephane Tanguay
Starring: Sophie Cadieux, Maxime Denommée, Benoît Gouin
MPAA Rating: NR
Running time: 95 min.

(4/5)

Near the end of Patrick Demers’ Jealous (Jaloux), after we’ve seen how much of the drama plays out, one of the characters muses that the only thing that can keep a couple together is a secret. I don’t agree but I can see the point of the statement, especially when the secret is something that could land one or both parties in jail for a very long time. But is that any way to live? We never find out. Demers’ film isn’t interested in what happens after the fact but solely on the events which transpire during a weekend away.

Thomas and Marianne are unhappily together. After nearly eight years of bliss they’ve stumbled on the not-so-mythical seven year itch. They bicker. Endlessly. About everything. But mostly about the fact that Marianne finds Thomas overbearing and Thomas thinks Marianne is a floozy. In an effort to figure out once and for all whether they have a future together, Thomas makes arrangements for them to travel up to the lake and spend some quality time together.

The drive starts off well enough but the conversation soon turns sour and the pair end up with their car in the ditch before they ever arrive at the cabin. Not a good start. Things go from uncomfortable to weird when they show up at the cabin to find Ben, the neighbour, has let himself in and prepared dinner. He was expecting to spend some quality time with his friends and instead he ends up with perfect strangers and a table set for three. The trio go through strained introductions before deciding to share dinner and drinks. Everyone is content and a good time is being had. What Marianne and Thomas don’t realise is that the man they just had dinner with isn’t Ben.

Jealous parcels out information in small doses, showing the audience more, though only a little more, than the characters know but even with the added information, the importance and connection of the mysterious Ben impersonator to Thomas’ uncle isn’t clear until very late in the film after we’ve already formed an opinion as to the sort of troubled man he is. Demers’ film is particularly effective when it meanders a little in the middle as Marianne and Ben start to form a bond over events which Marianne thinks happened on their first night at the cabin. It’s a bit creepy and wholly uncomfortable and Benoît Gouin as Ben is particularly effective. There’s something in the way he looks at Marianne, like he could eat her, that is unsettling.

Though it begins as a relationship drama, it’s clear from the start of Jealous that there’s more to this tale than simply a dying relationship. The feeling of uneasiness starts with the opening scene and is accentuated by Ramachandra Borcar’s off kilter score. Even though I was expecting things to go wrong, I couldn’t see where the story was headed and certainly didn’t foresee the outcome which is unexpected though completely plausible considering the events that lead to it.

There are no happy endings here and even though there doesn’t appear to be an immediate threat, the closing scenes of Jealous left me wondering how the events that unfolded over a few days have affected the characters and more over, what other implications might come into play as time passes. An excellent little tale from an assured storyteller, I’m excited to see what Demers delivers next.

Jaloux is available on DVD and Blu-Ray on July 5th.

DVD Extras: None.