Borderline
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 – 7:30 pm Vancouver Premiere!
Canada 2008. Director: Lyne Charlebois
Cast: Isabelle Blais, Jean-Hugues Anglade, Angèle Coutu, Sylvie Drapeau, Laurence Carbonneau
Post-screening discussion with Dr John Wagner and Dr. Alina Wydra
Earning well over $1 million in Quebec, this certifiable box office smash in la belle province has yet to make it to English Canada in any significant way. And that’s a real shame, for Lyne Charlebois’ debut feature film is a stunner – a compelling, visually striking film featuring a standout, fearless performance from Isabelle Blais. Reminiscent of C.R.A.Z.Y. and Leolo, Charlebois’ film tackles themes of familial madness, sexual confusion and problems with burgeoning creativity, seen entirely from a female point of view. The film follows Kiki (Blais) through two periods in her life, as well as flashbacks to a childhood that encompasses an institutionalized mother, an ailing grandmother and an absent father. At 20, Kiki is a Courtney Love look-alike with self-destructive sex, drugs, booze and rock n’ roll habits; at 30, as a literature grad student and burgeoning writer, Kiki is in the midst of a disastrous affair with her much older (and very married) thesis advisor, Tcheky (Betty Blue’s Jean-Hughes Anglade). Blais and Anglade take up a lot of screen time engaging in some graphic and at times very explicit sexual behaviour, but the intent of the filmmaker was not to shock but rather to illuminate a character who continues to confuse sex and love. “In the era of the “real sex” film (Shortbus, 9 Songs et al.), [these scenes] are really not such a big deal; it’s not the physical nudity but the emotional rawness that makes Blais’s performance so brave.” (Malcolm Fraser, Montreal Mirror) Colour, 35mm, in French with English subtitles. 110 mins.
Post-screening discussion with Dr John Wagner and Dr. Alina Wydra
Dr. John Wagner is a Registered Psychologist and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Psychology at UBC. He is the Director of the DBT Centre of Vancouver, which specializes in providing Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) – currently the most widely researched treatment for problems characteristic of Borderline Personality Disorder – to adolescent and adult clients.
Dr. Alina Wydra is a Registered Psychologist whose practice covers the entire gamut of human relationships, including sexuality. In this context she has facilitated therapy groups for sexually addicted people such as the protagonist in the film Borderline.
For ticketing information see:
http://www.cinematheque.bc.ca/framesofmind/borderline