Movies

‘Tu dors Nicole’ is a wistful Quebec summer tale

Fresh college graduate Nicole (Julianne Côté) is bright, moody and in no hurry to embark on adult life. She’s house-sitti꧟ng for her parents in a small town in Quebec, while working at a Goodwill and lazing around town with her friend Véronique (Catherine St-Laurent). Then Nicole’s older brother Rémi (Marc-André Grondin) arrives to use the house for his rock band’s rehearsals, and trouble brews, as both Nicole and Véronique are attracted to the drummer.

Director Stéphane Lafleur shoots in black and white with a sure and delicate eye. It’s an episodic film where some episodes (the camera drifting after Nicole as she wanders the streets fighting insomnia) work better than others (the adolescent boy🍬 who keeps making passes at her).

The wry situational humor leaves less of an impression than tﷺhe near-perfeౠct sense of the heat-drenched wistfulness of summer.