An Eye for Beauty
Where: Cineplex Odeon
When: Sat., Feb. 7, 9:45 p.m.
Rating: 2.5/5 stars
Denys Arcand lives up to the title of his ravishingly beautiful but oddly empty new film about a dashing Quebecois architect (Eric Bruneau) whose seemingly perfect life with his gorgeous wife (Melanie Thierry) is shattered after he has a quickie affair with a married Anglophone seducer while working in Toronto. Bookended by the mismatched lovers’ chance encounter at an awards event, the film is rife with eye-candy, from seasonal changes in beautiful rural vistas inhabited by attractive French-Canadian yuppies who love premium pot as much as fine wine, to architectural wonders in Toronto. Yet Arcand’s attempts to contrast these cultures misses the mark. While the film isn’t painful to watch, and not just because it’s easy on the eyes, it’s a pointless affair. Preposterous plot developments we won’t spoil by revealing here pile up, with soft-focus sexual trysts and tourism brochure beauty all but dwarfing storytelling that is compelling or believable.
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