LES FEMMES EN OR (Two Women) (Canada 2025) ***
Directed by Chloé Robichaud

Violette and Florence no longer understand what's happening to them. Respectively on maternity leave and off work, one is on edge, the other feels nothing. The neighbours are both consumed by a sense of failure: despite their careers and families, they're not happy. Florence's first infidelity will be a revelation. What if happiness meant rebelling against our rigid, performance-driven society? In a context where having fun is far down the list of priorities, sleeping with a delivery man might be downright revolutionary. For Violette and Florence, it will be the breath of fresh air they've been hoping for.

The film begins with Violette complaining to her husband that she hears the sound of a crow.   She mimics the sound, which could also sound like a couple in the midst of their lovemaking.   She is so obsessed with the sound that she confronts her neighbour, Florence, about it, which is, as the audience assumes, that they met.

The film about liberal women feels like this, which was very common in the 70s - films like AN UNMARRIED WOMAN, LA LUNA, and DIARY OF A MAD HOUSEWIFE.  The film could have been two separate films as they deal with two women, but the two women interact from the very beginning, and even their male counterparts interact.  If one could say that the film is set in the 70s, the answer is no, as there is a segment where  Violette’s partner uses his cellular in the toilet.

The film is very much a female tale told by females with a large female perspective.   But at least the males are not treated as idiots, and at times they are right in their arguments over the women, as in the one where Violette sells her husband’s fishing gear with his guitar following.

If there is a message delivered in the star, it is that women have to be sexually satisfied in order to be happy, especially in a relationship, regardless of whether the sex is between the partner or with someone else.  There is a discussion that monogamy is designed by society to satisfy the needs of men, o ugly men will never have enough women and will create trouble otherwise.  The two femmes of the story go to great lengths in order to find sex, be it hiring outside help like a partner or pest exterminators and then have sex after securing them. They also  go to the bars, get drunk, dance and seduce the males at the establishment,

In the case of the two women, the partners appear satisfied with the arrangement, though unaware that their partners are having sex with others, and their relationship, but glad that all is going well.

The film is shot in Quebec, mainly in winter when there is heavy snow all around, the atmosphere adding to the coldness of the women’s situations.

The film begins to drag a bit towards the end, once all the characters have been introduced and their idiosyncrasies revealed.   Still, this is a free-spirited flowing film including anything that can happen.

TWO WOMEN opens this week at the TIFF  Lightbox with a May 27 post-screening Q&A with director Chloé Robichaud.

Trailer: