Café de Flore

Café de Flore (2011) — watch online on iFILM. This Canadian-French drama from director Jean-Marc Vallée interweaves two love stories across five decades, held together by music and the stubborn pull of attachment.

Paris, the 1960s. Single mother Jacqueline, played by Vanessa Paradis, raises her son Laurent, who has Down syndrome, after her husband leaves them both. She funnels every ounce of herself into giving him a full life, refusing every easy exit. Montreal, present day. DJ Antoine, played by Kevin Parent, is thriving — new love, successful career, two daughters — but his ex-wife Carole, played by Hélène Florent, is quietly falling apart. Evelyne Brochu plays Antoine's current partner Rose, the woman Carole cannot reconcile herself to.

Vallée builds the film like a playlist, letting the music carry emotional weight that the dialogue leaves unsaid. His later work — Dallas Buyers Club, Big Little Lies — shares this same instinct. Stream Café de Flore (2011) online on iFILM.