Contre Toute Espérance

Filmmaker Bernard Émond’s followup to 2005’s La Neuvaine, Contre Toute Espérance casts Guylaine Tremblay as Réjeanne – a switchboard operator whose life is thrown into turmoil after her husband (Guy Jodoin’s Gilles) suffers a debilitating stroke. The movie transpires both in the past and in the present, with the latter revolving around a lieutenant’s (René-Daniel Dubois’ Allard) efforts to solve Gilles’ murder and the former dealing with Réjeanne and Gilles’ crumbling relationship. As was the case with La Neuvaine, Contre Toute Espérance unfolds at an exceedingly deliberate pace that admittedly serves the material quite well – as as it becomes increasingly difficult not to sympathize with Réjeanne’s plight. Tremblay’s subtle, absolutely riveting performance unquestionably cements this vibe, though Dubois’ heartbreaking work as Gilles is certainly just as deserving of kudos. Equally strong is the time-shifting structure employed by Émond; in oscillating between the past and the present, the director cultivates an atmosphere of mystery that proves impossible to resist (ie as the pieces start to fall into place, we learn what happened in the present and why it happened in the past). But the torpid manner in which Contre Toute Espérance unfolds ultimately prevents it from becoming the compelling piece of work Émond clearly wants it to be, as the movie is simply unable to sustain a level of fervent interest within the viewer for more than a few minutes at a time.

**1/2 out of ****