''The Nature of Love'' (french: Simple comme Sylvain) is a 2023 Canadian romantic comedy-drama film directed by Monia Chokri."Simple comme Sylvain, de Monia Chokri, ira à Cannes"
Ici Radio-Canada, April 13, 2023. The film had its world premiere in the Un Certain Regard section at the

2023 Cannes Film Festival The 76th annual Cannes Film Festival was a film festival that took place from 16 to 27 May 2023. Swedish filmmaker Ruben Östlund served as jury president. With the French film ''Anatomy of a Fall'' winning the Palme d'Or, the festival's top pr ...

on 18 May 2023.

Plot

University professor Sophia has a comfortable life and a stable but unexciting marriage to Xavier. That is upended when she meets and is attracted to Sylvain, a blue-collar construction contractor whom the couple hires to renovate their summer home.

Cast

Magalie Lépine-Blondeau Magalie Lépine-Blondeau (born August 18, 1982) is a Canadian actress and television host. Biography Magalie Lépine-Blondeau studied theater at Cégep de Saint-Laurent, then at The National Theater School of Canada. After she obtained her d ...

as Sophie *

Pierre-Yves Cardinal Pierre-Yves Cardinal (born 24 July 1978) is a Canadian film and television actor. He is best known for his role as Francis in Xavier Dolan's ''Tom at the Farm'', for which he garnered a Canadian Screen Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor a ...

as Sylvain * Monia Chokri as Françoise * Francis-William Rhéaume as Xavier *

Steve Laplante Steve Laplante (born July 13, 1972) is a Canadian actor and writer from Quebec. He is most noted for his performance as David in the 2022 film ''Viking'', for which he received a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Lead Performance in a Film ...

as Philippe *

Marie-Ginette Guay Marie-Ginette Guay is a Canadian film and television actress from Quebec. She is most noted for her performance as Lucette Simoneau in the film ''Continental, a Film Without Guns (Continental, un film sans fusil)'', for which she was a Genie Award ...

as Sylvie * Micheline Lanctôt as Madeleine * Guillaume Laurin as Olivier *

Linda Sorgini Linda Sorgini (born 1955) is a Canadian actress who works primarily in Quebec.Gaetan Charlebois"Sorgini, Linda" ''Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia'', October 25, 2021. She is most noted for her performance in the 1983 film ''The Tin Flute (Bonheur d ...

as Guylaine * Mathieu Baron as Kevin * Christine Beaulieu as Karine * Lubna Playoust as Joséphine *

Guy Thauvette Guy Thauvette (born March 19, 1944) is a Canadian actor from Pointe-des-Cascades, Quebec, Pointe-des-Cascades, Quebec. He is most noted for his performance in the film ''Infiltration (2017 film), Infiltration (Le problème d'infiltration)'', for ...

as Pierre * Karelle Tremblay as Camélia

Production

Production on the film was first announced in fall 2022.

Release

The film premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the

on 18 May 2023.

Critical response

Catherine Bray of '' Variety'' praised the film, writing that "The film is impeccably cast. As Sophia, Magalie Lépine Blondeau (whom Chokri first directed ten years ago in her hugely successful short '' An Extraordinary Person'') is wonderful, gifted with great comic timing and a particular knack for telegraphing that sense of someone who knows they’re making a huge mistake, but are compelled to go ahead and make it anyway. That’s handy, since it is perhaps the character’s defining trait. But it’s hard to imagine Blondeau’s role working as well as it does without the right actor as Sylvain, the kind of guy whose compulsive sexual charm is enough, by itself, to swamp every other more cautious instinct. Luckily, Cardinal has form here, having previously sizzled in Xavier Dolan’s ''

Tom at the Farm ''Tom at the Farm'' (french: Tom à la ferme) is a 2013 Canadian psychological thriller film directed by and starring Xavier Dolan. The film is based on the play of the same name by Michel Marc Bouchard, who co-wrote the screenplay with Dolan. I ...

'', as the burly agricultural man’s man to Dolan’s fashionable city boy. Call it screen presence, magnetism, charisma — Cardinal has it." Savina Petkova of ''Cineuropa'' wrote that "Even if ''The Nature of Love'' can’t shake off the pessimistic thought that all instances of a heterosexual, monogamous love life are doomed to repeat the same cycle of infatuation/marriage/depletion of desire, it offers a special, nuanced take on love and what love can be. It even suggests a canon of studies on romance – a topic equally neglected in philosophy and ethics – with quotes by the likes of Plato,

bell hooks Gloria Jean Watkins (September 25, 1952December 15, 2021), better known by her pen name bell hooks, was an American author and social activist who was Distinguished Professor in Residence at Berea College. She is best known for her writings on ...

and Vladimir Jankélévitch, but without being didactic in any way. Overall, Chokri’s new film is as confident as its protagonist, a woman who knows how to articulate her desires, to surrender and to leave them behind, when it feels right.” Maxance Vincent of ''InSession Film'' wrote that the movie is "one of the funniest and most heartbreaking movies you’ll see all year, and it cements Chokri as one to watch as a daring auteur who never made the same film twice and will seemingly continue pushing the boundaries of what modern Québec cinema can – and should – be."Maxance Vincent
"Movie Review: The Nature of Love Sets Monia Chokri Apart"
''InSession Film'', September 26, 2023.

Accolades

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nature of Love, The 2023 films 2023 comedy-drama films 2023 LGBT-related films Canadian romantic comedy-drama films Canadian LGBT-related films Films directed by Monia Chokri French-language Canadian films LGBT-related romantic comedy films 2020s Canadian films 2020s French-language films Best Foreign Film César Award winners