Vic + Flo Saw a Bear

2013 1h 35m French 6.3

Crime, Drama, Thriller

Sixty-one year old Victoria Champagne has just been released from prison on parole. Without telling him, Vic plans to live in the sugar shack on the non-operating farm property owned by her Uncle Émile Champagne in the woods east of Montréal, and to invite her younger girlfriend, fellow ex-con Florence Richemont, who she met inside prison, to live with them, unaware that Uncle Émile is now an invalid in a wheelchair and who cannot speak, he requiring constant care which is currently being provided by Émile's young neighbor, Charlot Smith. Regardless of Uncle Émile's situation, Vic sees this arrangement as being perfect for what she needs in wanting some solitude and being emotionally dependent on Flo who she loves. Although Flo agrees for reasons of her own, this situation is not ideal for her in she preferring some excitement in her life, she, a bisexual, who also craves the company of men. Beyond the differences between the two women, their life together is potentially threatened by two outside forces, one related to each of them. On Vic's side is her parole officer, a generally fair young man named Guillaume Perreira-Leduc. Vic originally told the parole board that she would be living with her brother, Yvon Champagne, on the property, to which she knew he would not agree in not wanting anything to do with her. Associating with anyone with a criminal record let alone living with an ex-con breaks Vic's parole conditions. On Flo's side are some unmentioned to Vic outstanding issues concerning the reason that Flo ended up in prison in the first place.—Huggo