Imagine this: a rich, middle-aged and attractive lady living in Westmount (one of the most «chic» parts of Montreal), in a big house, with a loving husband, servants, etc. She may seem to be very lucky and «have it all», yet.... One day, all of a sudden -- as if awakening from a bad dream --, realizing the meaninglessness of her life -- she packs a valise, takes her expensive car, drives away, having decided to end it all. But she needs a period of adjustment before committing suicide. By pure accident, she decides to take a room in a rather shabby boarding-house, near a bus terminal. And, slowly, with her, we uncover one by one the few tenants of that place. All fascinating in their ways, all mostly pathetic, and yet also very humane.... Béatrice Picard is just faultless as the housewife who needs to «get away from it all». However, I found Angèle Coutu (once famous in soap-operas but, in my opinion, always a limited actress «range-wise»), well, I found her rather unpleasant in the stressed vulgarity of her language and manners, and not very attractive to look at, particularly as she tastelessly exhibit herself in a scene, fully in the nude, passively awaiting a young boarder to «give her physical satisfaction», while she's spread, with wide opened mouth and legs, on a bed «like a melting, fat and collapsing piece of old meat !». This being said, I would recommend this movie for those who like slow, bitter-sweet movies dealing very realistically and yet somewhat poetically with the «inherent anguish of living life itself». After all, it is a successful adaptation of a novel by the great Marie-Claire Blais ! (*) As described by Rachel Lakronne, in her movie column in the prestigious «Presto Presse», Vol. 32, No. 12, January 1988.
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