Top 200 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2023: #105. Monia Chokri’s Simple comme Sylvain

Simple comme Sylvain

A film that was put into development shortly after she premiered 2019’s La femme de mon frère at the Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard section, Monia Chokri received some backing Sodec and Telefilm coin for her third film while she was in the midst of preparing her sophomore feature in 2022’s Babysitter (Sundance – Midnight section selction). Production on Chokri’s Simple comme Sylvain took place last October just north of Montreal. Produced by Metafilms’ Sylvain Corbeil and Nancy Grant, this is more or less a tale about the seven year itch which involves Magalie Lépine Blondeau and Pierre-Yves Cardinal. Blondeau was a centerpiece of Chokri’s scintillating 2013 short An Extraordinary Person (Quelqu’un d’extraordinaire) so we’re hoping to see this level of brilliance here. Cinematographer André Turpin works with Chokri for a first time.

Gist: Sophia’s comfortable life is turned upside down the day she meets Sylvain, an entrepreneur from the Laurentians. She will leave everything to live this burning passion, telling herself that it will perhaps be the last of her life. But a whole world separates lovers ··· She comes from a wealthy intellectual background in Montreal, while Sylvain comes from a family of manual workers. Sophia will be released from it for a solid questioning of her own values and aspirations after having however abandoned herself to her great romantic impulses.

Release Date/Prediction: Chokri could be aiming for Cannes again, so we have one foot in a possible Quinzaine showing or a possible Locarno competition title showcase.