Vic + Flo Saw A Bear (2013) (Review)

Vic + Flo Ont Vu Un Ours (2013) (Vic + Flo Saw A Bear) is a suspense/drama film about two women starting a new life in the backwoods of Quebec. When I saw that I had access to this film, I said to myself : okay, I’ll see what a Canadian, Quebecois film looks like. And what I found was just as bad as any of the worst French films.

Except… something very special and bizarre is going to happen in my review! In fact, despite the fact that this film is too long, very slow, deadly boring and that I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone… I still enjoyed seeing it. So I don’t know if it’s because I’d had a really bad day and nothing could get worse. Or if it’s because I expected so little from this film that I couldn’t be disappointed.  

I let myself be taken in by this feature film, and this film let itself be watched by me.

It’s always a treat to discover Quebecois accents and expressions. The actors and actresses play quite well, but there are moments that are overplayed or less naturally played. The dialogue has the banality of everyday life and is neither exciting nor original.

What’s most excruciating is that I watched the film as if it were some kind of dream. I had no attachment to any of the characters, and I didn’t care what happened to them. So, what will be an unbearable end for some… was just a normal end for me. 

Romane Bohringer is an actress I didn’t know. All I knew was that she’s a French actress, daughter of Richard Bohringer (who is excellent!), who won the César for Best New Actress in 1993 for Les Nuits fauves. In any case, there’s nothing incredible about her here. Her character is the only one who speaks French that you can understand, especially if you’re not used to the accent across the Atlantic. 

There are films I want to like, but can’t. There are films I don’t like. There are films I want to hate, but I just can’t do it. As for this one, I’d say I’m ashamed not to have hated it a little more. And I would have been more at ease if I’d liked it a little less. Anyway, I’ll give you that!

Because even the theme song “Pretty Day” by Marie Möör is a disaster. It’s one of the worst things you can find in French chanson, with its mix of completely lame lyrics and English words pronounced in the French way. And it makes me laugh to see in the credits something like: “song included in the film with the kind permission of Marie Möör”. That’s cute: you have to ask permission even from people who are completely devoid of talent. Now that’s real respect!

I’ll try not to judge all the cinema in this region solely on the basis of this film. If I’m lucky, I’ll find some real nuggets.