After copping the Pardi di Domani best direction award for his short film Making Babies (Faire un enfant) in 2023, Canadian screenwriter and actor Éric K. Boulianne made his return to the Locarno Film Festival for his feature directorial debut Follies (Folichonneries), which just had its world premiere in the Filmmakers of the Present section of the Swiss fest’s 78th edition. The debuting director’s previous writing credits include the Canadian blockbuster hits Compulsive Liar and Father and Guns 2, alongside Before We Explode and The Dishwasher, for which he scored best screenplay nominations at the 2019 Quebec Cinema Awards and the 2024 Canadian Screen Awards, respectively. This September, Follies is set to make its North American premiere as part of the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival’s Centrepiece program.
For this latest offering, which has been acquired by Paris-based sales and production house Totem prior to its Locarno premiere, Boulianne directs and stars opposite his Compulsive Liar collaborator Catherine Chabot in a story that tinkers with the edges of modern intimacy, rendered with so much texture on a 16mm camera.
Julie and François have been together for 16 long years and are now raising two children. Their relationship has been nothing but monogamous, and they seem fine with the arrangement, until a conversation over dinner with their friends, a younger, venturesome couple in an open relationship, makes them consider otherwise. It’s a premise that Boulianne sets up instantly and rather funnily via a one long, almost uninterrupted opening shot, which finds the younger couple openly talking about rim jobs, which the girl finds so much pleasure in but the guy dislikes for fear of vaginitis. “Is this really gonna be my life?” the girl ponders with real concern. “With war, global warming, the far right, do I really want to spend the years I have not getting rimmed because the man I love had a teacher who said it was gross?” Such a crisis leads the younger couple to explore ethical non-monogamy, just as it leads Julie and François to entertain the curious setup, though one is more elated about the idea than the other.
As Julie and François begin to explore, they lay the ground rules, such as not hooking up with friends, doing proper hygiene after oral sex, and preserving their “couple’s aura,” or, in simple terms, honoring their commitment to each other. Another crucial choice: They keep their two daughters privy to the whole sexual experimentation, which may or may not backfire later on. Soon, they venture into a wild and wayward territory — first as a couple (wherein Julie is more of an observer), then independently; from foursomes to BDSM — and learn that it’s not as trouble-free as it seems.
Follies is essentially a blend of a classic rom-com and a mumblecore movie, and a fascinating one, where post-sex conversations turn into moments of enlightenment. Boulianne, who shares writing credit with Alexandre Auger, mines a labyrinth of tension between erotic liberation and marital obligation but not in a way that one has to triumph over the other. It isn’t so much about the idea of saving a marriage by letting other people in (though that seems to be the thinking that propels the character of François at first), it’s more to do with the complexity of modern desire and sexual identity and the lengths two people can endure to understand each other and themselves. By insisting on tight shots and a muted visual palette, the film hardens this sense of unexplored self. The dialogue — which brings to mind the emotional avalanche so sharply orchestrated in Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall, though perhaps in a less dramatic energy — functions like fluid, aware of the narrative crevices it can and cannot smoothly enter, as well as the murky areas that expose the inhibitions and insecurities of the characters. Case in point: Once Julie finds real connection with a lesbian couple after a series of awkward, outright disappointing encounters, François swiftly retreats into a selfish, narcissistic register as he grows unhappy and struggles to reestablish the urge that initially propels him to expand his erotic horizons.
Sexual desire, as the movie suggests, can never be neatly viewed in clear and crystalline terms. With her compelling froideur, Chabot guides us first into Julie’s misgivings and embarrassment until she reveals what can happen once the character moves past that sexual palisade. Boulianne, meanwhile, is marvelously unnerving as someone who wrestles with his ego initially disguised as curiosity.
At the same time, Follies is incredibly funny, capable of injecting humor even in the most poignant of junctures. In a car scene, when his kids observe that he seems more out of sorts than ecstatic about the latest development in his sexual life, François opens up about his depression and just as he’s about to enter a vulnerable state, the moment is hilariously interrupted by a revelation about how he and Julie watch their children as they sleep. “From now on, neither you nor Mom can watch us sleep!” declares one of his daughters, who’s totally freaked out. Elsewhere are sillier encounters, which find the girls sensing “bad energy” over dinner, or attempting to forge a polycule setup at school. The compelling thing is, the kids are much more transparent and attentive than any of the adults.
Though it is his first feature, Follies isn’t exactly a litmus test for Boulianne, considering his screenwriting and acting cred. Such a debut continues his sharp cinematic sensibilities, only now he’s able to refine it while wearing the director’s hat. One might expect that something would kneecap this endearing depiction of sexual and existential coming of age along the way, but Boulianne’s vision unravels with unassuming confidence that never confines its characters to their plot functions, or feels like it’s shortchanging the viewer for a sappy and euphoric release. There is actual insight here about contemporary romance, trust, and commitment, just as there is so much fun. Here is a movie whose thematic ambitions are matched by its directorial schemings.
Follies recently premiered at the Locarno Film Festival.
Learn more about the film at the Locarno site for the title.
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