Café de Flore

Abstract:
Café de Flore tells the story of Antoine, a DJ who continues dealing with the stabilization of his family circumstances after his separation from his wife, Carole. Furthermore, the film tells the story of Jaqueline, a single mother in the 1960s in Paris, and approaches her relationship with her son Laurent, who has Down Syndrome. Both temporal storylines are deeply connected by a latent fact that links the protagonists’ lives.

Details:
Antoine is a 40 year-old-man who is divorced and lives with his new partner, Rose, in Montreal. He shares custody of his two young daughters with Carole, his previous wife, and her girlfriend since they both were teenagers. On the one hand, Antoine is still dealing in therapy with the breakup with Carole; the memories of their relationship, which appear randomly in his head during his daily life; and the feeling of guilt for having broken up his family due to cheating his wife with Rose, to whom now he decides to propose marriage. Furthermore, he had troubles with alcoholism in the past, and after rehabilitation, where he met Rose, he is in a permanent fight against relapse. On the other hand, Carole, who is managing his single status without Antoine, starts having sleepwalking episodes and recurrent dreams about a woman and his son with Down Syndrome. She feels a particular connection with these two people and starts reflecting on them to understand their presence in her mind.
Jacqueline lives in Paris in the 60s with her son of 7 years, Laurent, who has Down Syndrome. They are very close and spend a lot of time together. Jacqueline is really protective of Laurent in the school atmosphere, and she suffers because of the stigmatizing comments towards him that she listens to on public transport or between the mothers of her son's mates. One day, a new girl arrives in Laurent’s class. Her name is Véronique, and she also has Down Syndrome. She and Laurent immediately strike up a friendship. Soon, they become inseparable to the point that sometimes they argue with their parents when each one has to go home. Laurent tells his mother that Véronique is his new girlfriend, which seems to disappoint her; the new encounters between her son and Véronique, and the consequent lonely afternoons, distress her. One day, Véroniques parents ask Jacquelin whether Laurent can spend the night in their house since he and her daughter do not want to separate one another. Jacqueline goes angrily to their home and forces her son to leave, even slapping him in the face. After that event, the relationship between the mother and the son becomes hostile. In addition, the school's director, Laurent, recommends Jacqueline and Véronique’s parents internalise their sons in a specialized educational centre since they are starting to cause trouble in the class atmosphere. Jacqueline firmly refuses that.
Back to the present in Montreal, Carole continues having somnambulism, and due to the audiovisual editing, it is revealed that the people she dreams about are Jaqueline and Laurent. Carole decides to hire a medium to find out more information. On the first visit, the medium is suggestible by connecting with Carole, and she tells Carole a few envisioned events related to Jacqueline and Laurent that help her understand her recurrent experiences and the bond she feels with the two people. Faced with a situation beyond her, Jacqueline ended up losing control over her emotional management and began to take disproportionate actions to reestablish it over her child. One day, Jaqueline messed up her whole house to lie to Laurent and tell him that thieves had broken in to simulate an event that would complicate the meetings between her son and Véronique. One day, Jacqueline awakes alone at home. Laurent has gone by himself to the school because he was in a hurry to get back to Veronique. This fact increases the stress in the mother, and that afternoon, she decides to tie her son to his bed while she thinks of a way of having him under control. She decides to lie to Véronique’s parents and tell them that she will visit a special educational centre with her son and that she could take Véronique with them. They agree, and Véronique adds to the appearance of a car journey to the centre. On the road, Jacqueline crashes her car into another car, and they die.
The medium explains to Carole that there is a transcendent connection between these people in the past and her present situation regarding how Carole, Antoine, and Rose deal with the separation and new love relationship. With the help of the medium, Carole identifies herself as Jacqueline, Antoine as Laurent, and Rose as Véronique. Furthermore, Carole recognises in herself an unconscious fear of danger that affects her ex-husband in his relationship with Rose. This inherited feeling prevents the resolution of the tensions between the three at the present. The sense of danger for Antoine materialises after a family New Year's dinner, where Antoine invites Rose to celebrate it with his family and daughters. Antoine’s father, who does not accept her son's new relationship with Rose, explains this rejection in front of the entire family and asks Antoine to break up with her. After that, Antoine and Rose come back home very upset. Rose is, for a long time, frustrated at not being accepted by her partner’s environment, and Antoine is dissatisfied that his new partnership does not seem to fit as well as Carole's. At that moment, Rose offers Antoine drugs to deal with the stress. Taking them would mean a relapse for both. Antoine decides to flush the drugs down the toilet. After that, they stay silent in the living room and choose to postpone the wedding. Suddenly, Carole arrives at Antoine’s house. She hugs Antoine and asks for his forgiveness, and he replies that she must forgive him. Carole looks at Rose, who approaches, and the three of them hug.
A year later, Rose and Antoine marry. Antoine’s father blesses the new marriage, and Carole attends the wedding and celebrates the day with her daughters, her ex-husband, and Rose.

Abstract:
《花神咖啡馆》（Café de Flore）讲述了DJ Antoine在与妻子Carole分居后，仍在努力稳定家庭状况的故事。此外，影片还讲述了20世纪60年代巴黎单身母亲Jaqueline的故事，探讨她与患有唐氏综合征（Down Syndrome）的儿子Laurent之间的关系。两条时间线的故事通过一个连接主角们生活的潜在事实深度交织。

Details:
Antoine是一位40岁的离婚男性，与新伴侣Rose居住在蒙特利尔。他与前妻Carole及Carole自青少年时期就在一起的女友共同抚养两个年幼的女儿。一方面，Antoine仍在通过心理治疗处理与Carole分手带来的问题——包括日常生活中随机浮现的两人关系记忆，以及因与Rose出轨导致家庭破裂而产生的愧疚感，如今他决定向Rose求婚。此外，他曾有酗酒问题，在康复期间结识了Rose，此后一直持续对抗复发。另一方面，Carole在没有Antoine的情况下适应单身状态，开始出现梦游症状，并反复梦见一名女子和她患有唐氏综合征的儿子。她感到与这两人之间存在特殊联系，开始反思他们为何出现在自己的脑海中。

Jaqueline于20世纪60年代生活在巴黎，是一位单身母亲，儿子Laurent年仅7岁且患有唐氏综合征。母子二人关系亲密，常相伴左右。Jaqueline在学校环境中对Laurent保护有加，当她在公共交通或儿子同学的母亲口中听到对Laurent的污名化评论时，内心备受煎熬。某天，Laurent的班级来了一位新女孩Véronique，她同样患有唐氏综合征。两人迅速建立友谊，很快变得形影不离，有时甚至会因不得不回家而与各自父母发生争执。Laurent告诉母亲Véronique是他的新女友，这似乎让Jaqueline感到失望；儿子与Véronique的新交往以及随之而来的孤独午后，让她心烦意乱。一天，Véronique的父母询问Jaqueline是否可以让Laurent在他们家过夜，因为两个孩子不愿分开。Jaqueline愤怒地赶到他们家，强迫儿子离开，甚至扇了他一耳光。此事之后，母子关系变得紧张。此外，学校校长Laurent建议Jaqueline和Véronique的父母将孩子送入特殊教育中心，因为他们开始在班级中制造麻烦。Jaqueline坚决拒绝了这一建议。

回到蒙特利尔的现在，Carole的梦游症状仍在持续，通过视听剪辑揭示出她梦见的正是Jaqueline和Laurent。Carole决定聘请一位灵媒以了解更多信息。第一次拜访时，灵媒在与Carole建立连接后感应到了一些与Jaqueline和Laurent相关的事件，并将这些所见告知Carole，帮助她理解自己反复出现的经历以及与这两人之间的纽带。面对超出自身掌控的局面，Jaqueline最终情绪失控，开始采取极端措施以重新控制儿子。一天，Jaqueline将家里弄得一团糟，向Laurent谎称有小偷闯入，以此制造事件来阻碍儿子与Véronique的见面。某日，Jaqueline醒来发现家中空无一人——Laurent因急于见到Véronique而独自前往学校。这一事实加剧了母亲的压力，当天下午，她决定将儿子绑在床上，同时思考如何更好地控制他。她向Véronique的父母撒谎，称将带儿子去参观一所特殊教育中心，并可以带上Véronique一同前往。他们同意了，Véronique便加入了这场前往中心的车程。途中，Jaqueline驾车撞上另一辆车，两人不幸身亡。

灵媒向Carole解释，过去这些人与她当前处境之间存在超越性的联系——涉及Carole、Antoine和Rose如何处理分居与新恋情的问题。在灵媒的帮助下，Carole意识到自己是Jaqueline的转世，Antoine是Laurent的转世，而Rose则是Véronique的转世。此外，Carole认识到自己内心深处存在一种无意识的危险恐惧，这种恐惧影响着前夫Antoine与Rose的关系。这种遗传的情感阻碍了三人当前紧张关系的解决。Antoine所面临的危险感在一次家庭新年晚宴上显现：Antoine邀请Rose与家人及女儿们一同庆祝，但其父亲不接受儿子与Rose的新关系，当着全家人的面表达了反对，并要求Antoine与Rose分手。晚宴后，Antoine和Rose心情沮丧地回到家中。Rose长期因不被伴侣家人接受而感到沮丧，Antoine则对新关系不如与Carole那般融洽感到不满。此时，Rose向Antoine提供毒品以缓解压力——吸食毒品对两人而言都意味着复发。Antoine决定将毒品冲入马桶。之后，他们在客厅沉默良久，选择推迟婚礼。突然，Carole来到Antoine家中，拥抱他并请求原谅，Antoine回应称她也需要原谅自己。Carole看向Rose，Rose走近，三人相拥在一起。

一年后，Rose与Antoine成婚。Antoine的父亲祝福了这段新婚姻，Carole也出席了婚礼，与女儿们、前夫及Rose一同庆祝这一天。