Two Women might be a remake of a film made over fifty years ago, but it posts plenty of modern sensibility and humour. A reworking of Claude Fournier’s 1970 soft core sex romp Deux Femmes En Or (which remains the French language title of this version), director Chloé Robichaud (Sarah Prefers to Run, Days of Happiness) and writer Catherine Léger’s examination of female desire and sexual liberation expands to include nods towards social media, dating apps, the #MeToo movement, and building co-op boards, but the song remains mostly the same. It looks at two women at their sexual peaks and different crossroads striking up an unlikely kinship in the face of male mistrust and apathy.
Violette (Laurence Leboeuf) is a new mother stuck at home with the baby, while her husband, Benoit (Félix Monti), heads off on a number of different business trips. From the condo unit next door, Violette keeps hearing loud, insistent sex noises, so she decides to ask the neighbour, Florence (Karine Gonthier-Hyndman), to politely keep it down and not be such an exhibitionist. Florence, a depressed fellow mother to a ten year old son and currently out of work translator, says that she hasn’t had sexual relations with her husband, David (Mani Soleymanlou) in years. This chance encounter between neighbours not only leads to a friendship, but to both women taking stock of their relationships. Florence goes off her medication in a bid to up her libido, but when David still refuses to take action, she begins hooking up with any number of tradespeople that happen by the condo. It’s not long before Violette follows suit.
Two Women (which made its world premiere at Sundance earlier this year) builds a pair of well drawn romantic relationships on a road to ruin that mesh well together. Florence wants to be desired and pleasured, but David doesn’t have much left in the romantic or lustful tank. It’s never fully clear if David is actually cheating on Florence (although he might want to with chippy fellow condo resident Jessica, played by Sophie Nélisse in a fun cameo) or if he’s just as lost in life as his wife. Violette, on the other hand, has ample reason to worry, as Benoit is absolutely cheating on her (with a pushy, aloof co-worker, played nicely by Juliette Gariépy). Violette’s life is one of active neglect, made worse by the fact that most of what Benoit knows about his wife’s inner life comes from his mistress creeping on her Facebook page.
Robichaud and Léger approach these relationships with equal parts humour and seriousness. While most of Violette and Florence’s sexual escapades (and even those involving David and his mistress) are on the level of a classic sex farce and have the sort of inciting set-ups that are normally accompanied by the “BOW CHICKA WAH-WAH” musical sting, they still feels like they are coming from a genuine place of wanting to be seen and understood. The sex in Two Women is meant to both be rebellious and fun, and Robichaud tackles this aspect of the film accordingly. A lot of the humour here is found through the clever use of innuendo and winks and nods towards the audience, and while it’s not always of the laugh-out-loud sort of comedy one might expect, it definitely earns a lot of sly smirks and chuckles. Those jokes and quips are muted somewhat by the fact that the film’s score feels more appropriate for a television sitcom with a laugh track instead of a film that has some genuine wit and visual accomplishment.
And while the characters and their relationships to each other are interesting, most of the drama in Two Women is all on the surface. Only David is a hard character to figure out, which is an odd choice for a film that rises and falls on its depiction of female desire. Violette and Florence are interesting mostly because of what Leboeuf and Hyndman are able to bring to their roles. Hyndman portrays a woman who’s gradually turning up the volume on her repressed personality with plenty of spirit and enthusiasm, while Leboeuf’s character always maintains a sense of pride and composure, even at her lowest. The characters remain pretty much the same people from start to finish, with the exception of the women questioning the need for monogamy in their lives. But the interactions between these two women and their partners is handled well by Robichaud and her performers. It’s a film made for the talents of the people in front of the camera, and not necessarily a calling card for the people behind it.
Two Women is an effective crowd pleaser, but perhaps too safe of one to strike a lasting impression. It moves at a pace that might be too brisk for its own dramatic good, and the comedic sexual elements can sometimes descend into the realm of the cartoonish and dampen the overall vibe. But the way Robichaud allows her actors to treat these characters with the utmost compassion and without judgement makes all the difference here, making Two Women is slight, but fun little movie that proves empowerment and bittersweet feelings can sometimes go hand in hand.
Two Women opens in Toronto (at TIFF Lightbox) and Montreal (various locations) on Friday, May 30, 2025. It will expand to Vancouver on June 6 and Ottawa on June 13.
