In search of a cure for an ailing heart
Le coeur de Madame Sabali is a well-timed, deadpan delight
Winnipeg transplant Ryan McKenna pulls off an unlikely double feat with his second feature, his first in Quebec, managing both to fit right in here and stand out in a big way.
Le coeur de Madame Sabali is a stylistically bold cinematic statement, but the nimble comedy isn’t about grandstanding. The director’s tongue is firmly planted in cheek throughout this shrewdly entertaining affair, which won best Canadian film at the Festival du nouveau cinéma in October.
McKenna is a fervent disciple of deadpan, and there are laughs aplenty in this coolly fantastic tale of a lady who appears to have purchased a one-way ticket to death via boredom.
Jeannette (the wonderful Marie Brassard) works at a train station. Her boyfriend Bruno (Hugo Giroux) won’t touch her; heck, he rarely looks at her. To top it off — spot the symbolism — she has an ailing heart.
One day, in a burst of spontaneity, she decides to leave Bruno. Coincidentally, a work colleague named Albert (Francis La Haye, awesomely cheesy) begins courting her. He offers her paintings of lobsters, which he makes on cuts of trees; soon the two are having wild sex, which, though never shown, she describes as “écoeurant” and the best of her life.
Jeannette’s world is further shaken up when an organ donor is found. She is given the heart of a Madame Sabali, whereupon she begins having strange, violent dreams, and developing a taste for Malian cuisine.
She is befriended by the woman’s bereft son, Chibale (Youssef Camara), who at first sees her as a replacement mother figure. Their relationship will take some unexpected turns, along with the rest of McKenna’s curiously meandering narrative.
Nothing is as it seems in this film. Jeannette’s bond to Albert holds secrets of its own. Floating perplexedly through it all, our leading lady gets outfitted in an array of dazzling ensembles (by gifted costume/set designer and co-writer Becca Blackwood), which always seem to match the colour-coordinated backdrops.
Blind Malian music duo Amadou & Mariam turn up, singing at the dead woman’s funeral and in strategically placed interludes.
Standing in bold contrast to the preponderance of earnest indie dramas that emerge from this province, Le coeur de Madame Sabali takes a cue from the outsider’s eye of Philippe Falardeau’s Monsieur Lazhar, running with it to a place that is far more freewheeling. McKenna has an auteur’s flair, impeccable comic timing and an ability to combine evocative dramatic truths with inspired flights of fancy. It all adds up to a movie that is well worth your time, and a budding director to keep your eye on.