Jane Corcoran I loved this film. You spend a long time wondering what the connection is between the two separate love stories and only find out very close to the end. I found it worth the wait. It completely changed my view of the relationship between Antoine and the younger woman he has left His beloved wife for. You have to watch the whole film and the credits to really get it, but once you do it becomes a much more satisfying and haunting film and i think i'll enjoy it even more second time around. I only saw it yesterday but i'll be watching it again very soon. The music is integral to the story and works perfectly. The performances are excellent from everyone, especially the children. Watch this film, it really is worth two hours of anyone's time.

murtaza murad Nowadays there are few films which have ability to provoke thoughts and leave a lasting impression. Cafe de Flore was one movie i was easily going to skip but i forced myself to see the trailer once before cutting the title off my list. The trailer was enough to compel me watch the film and thus i did. Now, i have got to say this is the best movie so far of 2012.The movie is a revelation by all means, it's something we haven't seen before and to experience such a quality cinema these days is a rarity. To write too much about the plot would be unfair but it revolves around to parallel stories, one in Paris 1960's about a mother and her mongoloid son and the other in contemporary Montreal about a DJ who give up his first love for another girl.The acting in this ensemble drama is a complete standout. The ones which leave a mark are Vanessa Paradis, Kevin Parent and child star Marin Gerrier.I would have to praise the director Jean-Marc Vallee for making a film with such innovation in film making. His style and approach is completely different, the movie is in fragments put together. Different characters, periods, ages and subplots all jumbled and the element that binds the movie together is music. Movie uses the music in a best way possible, it transcends the movie high and creates an effect which would be impossible to create without such brilliant use of music.I could have given the film 10 but a little improvement towards the ending could have helped make it a masterpiece. I won't write about that. Also a little further development in few characters would have been better.I think the movie wouldn't have been of such intensity if it wasn't made in such bizarre manner, it confuses you, gives answers and makes you think. Still i believe the movie won't be praised by everyone, it requires people who like experiencing something unconventional and strange yet plausible. Perfect example of modern movie making and totally unique love story with near perfect impact.

purple_811 I scared myself when I cried with the Sigur Ros song in the film, out of blue, in the dark cinema with only 3 other strange people there. This is a film about dream and love, and what are you supposed to do if your dream is all about the one you love, and what if you spend all your life protecting a dream that never meant to belong to you. This is the question in front of Jacqueline and Carole. After all, having a dream that connected to human beings is a dangerous thing to do.Using two parallel story lines is no more a novelty in film making. Yet the film does not give us much information on the relation between the two very different stories—a single mother, Jacqueline, with her Down's syndrome son, Laurent, in 1960s and a couple (Carole and Antonio) facing betrayal and the sequential mental stress today. The only correlations between them are Carole's strange dreams and "Cafe de Flore"—the songs with the same name that people from two spaces and times happened to play. Two and a half hours is a long duration for an independent art film, and in most of the time, these two stories are separately told, slowly and beautifully, and I thought maybe that's it, there would be no overlap between the two stories, until Carole figured out her connection with the mother and son from the last life.I watched Cafe de Flore by myself in a small cinema in the suburb of London. Tranquillity is all you need when encountering a beautiful film like this. Crying like a baby in the cinema, I had to sit there for a while until the film credits finished in order to give myself some time to look normal before going out. And the film is such a great comfort for some reason, it's cathartic. The original soundtrack is another important reason to make the film so moving. Interestingly, Sigur Ros's music video svefn-g-englar featured with Down's syndrome dancers, could be the initial inspiration of Cafe de Flore?

losriley-1 Such a bad film.Pretentious,disjointed, unbelievable, saccharine, self indulgent.Tiresome.This is the second worst film I have ever seen. The worst half of the audience walked out. I had such high hopes for this film and they were smashed after the first 5 minutes. Every character was sickly sweet and their every action perfect and staged. The best actors were the young children with Downs Syndrome. Woeful. Please avoid this film. It is easy to wish to avoid slating this film due to their being characters with disability. I myself am disabled and also have worked as a psychiatric nurse with patients who had Downs syndrome. This is why I had hoped that the film would be uplifting and honest. There is a great Korean film that deals with the lives of the disabled in called Oasis.