The Nature of Love | Telescope Film
The Nature of Love

The Nature of Love (Simple comme Sylvain)

Critic Rating

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  • Canada (Quebec)
  • 2023
  • · 110m

Director Monia Chokri
Cast Magalie Lépine-Blondeau, Pierre-Yves Cardinal
Genre Comedy

After meeting the irresistible Sylvian, Sophia, an upper-class woman from Montreal, throws caution to the wind and follows her heart, leaving her dull marriage behind for her new lover. However, Sylvian is from a working-class family, and their different economic backgrounds test their relationship.

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What are critics saying?

100

RogerEbert.com by Peyton Robinson

The Nature of Love is a rom-com for the ages, examining the confoundment we find when trying to understand our deepest human feelings, and doing it with the deserved spectrum of “oohs” “hahas” and “oh gods.”

91

IndieWire by Christian Zilko

Monia Chokri‘s brilliant feature is one of the sharpest cinematic examinations of the paradoxical expectations we place on our relationships in the 21st century.

80

Time Out by Anna Smith

With enjoyable characters and smart dialogue, French-Canadian director Monia Chokri makes her dilemma a very entertaining ride.

80

Screen Daily by Wendy Ide

This Quebecois romantic comedy is as sharp and perceptive as it is funny.

80

Variety by Catherine Bray

The Nature of Love refreshingly centers the female adulterer’s experience, in a richly comic mode.

80

Little White Lies by Josh Slater-Williams

Playful in its blocking and heavy on Altmanesque zooms, the movie’s textured visual language complements the script’s comedic and dramatic concerns, enhancing their impact rather than being an excessive distraction.

80

The Observer (UK) by Wendy Ide

It’s a comedy, certainly, but one that leans into the discomfort of the polar differences between the couple.

75

Slant Magazine by Wes Greene

The Nature of Love engages with the stylings and bubbly tonality of the classic rom-com in ironic fashion, along the way exploring complex aspects of human behavior.

60

The Guardian by Ryan Gilbey

The fussy visual style that keeps drawing attention to itself does its best to prevent us from becoming absorbed in this tempestuous romance.