Vic + Flo Saw a Bear

As an English Canadian film buff, I can’t help but feel jealousy at French Canada’s cinematic output. Sure, there are good English Canadian movies too. But Vic + Flo Saw a Bear is a great example of why French Canadian cinema is so strong despite being a smaller population. This is a beautiful looking film. That’s not something I often say about even the good English Canadian films.

Vic + Flo Saw a Bear begins when the leads, Vic and Flo move to a small town. They move in with Vic’s uncle, who suffers paralysis and is a shut-in. But the women are not specifically there to take care of him. Instead, they are looking for a quiet life after Vic’s release from prison. Vic’s status as an ex-con means a probation officer named Guillaume stops by to check on them. He tries to get Flo to give him the inside scoop on Vic by leveraging her own criminal past against her. But Guillaume is not the problem element in Vic and Flo’s attempts at a quiet life. Instead, it’s a woman named Marina. She has an axe to grind with Flo and brings a violent element into Vic and Flo’s small town life.

My god, the directing of this movie is beyond competent. While not a large budget spectacle, Vic + Flo director Denis Côté is a dab hand at making a good-looking film. It’s such minor details that take Vic + Flo from being good to great in regards to its directing. In wide shots, the staging and framing is so deliberate. There’s been an obvious attempt to fill the frame in an interesting and balanced way. Even in close-ups and lengthy dialogue scenes, the lighting helps make sure the frame looks as visually pleasing as possible. Vic + Flo is just such a nice film to look at. Côté and his team really understands cinematography and how to take an image from just being what the camera captures and turn it into something with visual interest and a personal artistic flair.

Story comes second to visuals. There isn’t too much happening here, honestly. Vic and Flo try and rebuild there life, Guillaume stops by occasionally and every once and a while, a dangerous criminal element shows up. Very little happens until the third act when there is a pretty brutal act of revenge. I do wish for maybe 15% more plot but I can respect that wasn’t the focus. The focus was a simple story with great direction. Vic + Flo absolutely lived up to that.

Part of the reason I wish for more plot is because the criminal revenge plot was so good. Marina, the woman who’s come to seek retribution from Flo is an amazing villain. She’s cold, brutal and brilliantly played by actress Maria Brassard. She’s so good that I want to see a movie where she simply has more screen time. It’s unusual for a villain this unfeeling and violent to be a woman. The fact that it’s a female criminal breaking legs and setting traps is some absolute #Girlboss feminism shit and I want more.

I’m also always a big fan of a film which takes idealized small town life and subverts it. Despite the beautiful cinematography, there is something strange and rotten at the core of this town. Vic and Flo really see this tiny town as a place for a fresh start where they can be forgotten. But they can’t. The town offers them little kindness. The exception is Marina, who initially appears as a friendly neighbour. That obvious doesn’t go well. Instead of some idealized small town community, Vic and Flo have found one that is strange, hostile and uncaring. This make Marina’s plan all the easier to execute. By the end of the film, the one one who cares about these women is Guillaume and I still don’t understand his deal.

Vic + Flo Saw a Bear soars due mainly to its damn good direction and cinematography. Its simple plot also offers a lot of positives. It features a non-standard lesbian narrative, lesbians over 50 and two lead characters plus a villain who are all criminals yet played by women. Vic + Flo offers an unusual narrative by taking a simple story and making the choice for its characters to be queer women over a certain age. But really, the star here is how damn beautiful the film is to look at. Even when what you’re looking at is someone’s leg caught in a bear trap.

Overall rating: 8/10

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