Cédric is a good-natured, but not too bright, misogynist. Although for the better part of his life he is unaware of his misogyny. He finds out about it one night, alongside the rest of the world, when after drinking with his friends, he runs up to a newswoman, kisses her on live tv, and confesses his love to her. The recording goes viral and Cédric gets suspended from his corporate job because they can’t afford to have anything in common with a worker with such violent views. Cédric is miserable. Especially since he doesn’t even understand what the whole thing is about. However, the situation is important to his wife Nadine: always sleepy, suffering from postpartum depression, and losing her mind raising a newborn. Luckily, a knight – or actually a she-knight – on shining skates comes to her rescue: a sensual babysitter Amy convinced – not without a reason – that she’s a doppelganger of Brigitte Bardot.
Under the guidance of his socially woke journalist brother Jean-Michel, Cédric undergoes vivisection of his behavior. The men are so focused on fighting discrimination against women that they decide to explain to them why they should feel hurt. They conduct a full mansplaining festival for Nadine and Amy, which leads to a brilliant finale.
‘Babysitter’ is a Canadian comedy based on a play by Catherine Léger and directed by Monia Chokri, who plays the role of the tired mother Nadine. All roles are performed daringly and the entirety of the film has a corny (technicolor!), surrealist vibe, balancing on the edge of satire, grotesque, social commentary, and horror. It’s a light film, but it touches upon a serious topic. Luckily, without preaching. It shows that misogyny is a thing that’s not easy to get rid of. And that while fighting against it, it’s easy to go overboard in the other direction, because fundamentalism never ends well.
director: Monia Chokri scenario: Catherine Léger cast: Monia Chokri, Patrick Hivon, Nadia Tereszkiewicz, Steve Laplante, Nathalie Breuer director of photography: Josée Deshaies editing: Clara Chapus and Yov Moor music: Emile Sornin language: French subtitles: Polish
WORLD PREMIERE: Sundance Film Festival 2022 age restrictions: 16+
