LE CHOIX DE SOFIA ★★★★
By Adrian Perez, Lonely Wolf London International Film Festival, Spring 2021
"Le Choix De Sofia--which translates Sophie's Choice--finds its more "progressive" heroine confronted with a less horrific choice to her 1982 predecessor (in Meryl Streep), but a slow-burning and soul-destroying one nevertheless; one that much like Naomi Klein's famous quote disclaims upon the film's commencement, requires a total suspension of one's moral belief infrastructure at the expense of one's survival in a highly capitalist Matrix.
Alain Deslongchamps triumphs in his architectural sculpting of a world that engulfs Sofia into unsustainable materialism, clinical corporate panorama and ultimately a self-confined solitary existence devoid of socio-emotional connection.
Véronique Gallant sophisticatedly peels off Sofia's facade of a self-reliant and efficient business matriarch and workaholic, whose secret inferiority complex at the hands of her inexperienced male colleagues, ultimately lead her down a downward spiral that sees her cancel on her girlfriends and work into the night on an already-immaculate report. Le Choix De Sofia's finds unquestionable high-class achievements in both its intricate character- and world-building; it's in the film's overall tempo-rhythmic and editorial assemblage that Deslongchamps's tale of corporate dystopia implores the same level of minutiae and omnipresence to take this short spectacle all the way into stratosphere.
Deslongchamps's directorial vision for the film is one of a parallel-canvas where Sofia's soul being is slowly deteriorated and climactically collapses, just like the Arctic's melting ice caps; it's through tv background noise, channel surfing and a surrealistic dream-sequence that Deslongchamps brings us to his metaphoric terrain, but the results have a tendency to feel over-pressed in the third act and undercooked for the entire audiovisual entendre. Deslongchamps's original intent is for a lighthearted and understated dramedy, which is an ascertained choice, but a sprinkle of Sofia's interiority for a more nail-bitting spectatorial experience (in the style of Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan (2010) and Emma Seligman's Shiva Baby (2020)) would have up the film's stakes and climate change socio-economic impact.
Deslongchamps's directorial ambition and tenacity here place him on the map and en-route on an exciting and prosperous career trajectory. Le Choix De Sofia exhibits a magnetic lead in Véronique Gallant wrapped in a most gorgeous cinematographic canvas presentation."
