Two strangers grieve the same friend and finally meet in a chance encounter.
CHEAP HUGS is used with permission from Sarah Baskin. Learn more at sarahbaskin.com.
Two women living in Montreal are going through a difficult period in life. Jordan, who lives and works in the Anglophone part of the city, quits her job in a fit of anger one day, due to the stress and insensitivity of her work environment. Chloe, who is part of the French-speaking part of Montreal, is sleepwalking through life, often there but not there in her daily interactions.
Both of these women don't know one another. But, as it turns out, both are grieving the tragic and shocking loss of their dear friend Mathilde. Both Jordan and Chloe are isolated in their grief and sadness. But that will change when a chance encounter in the street finally brings Chloe and Jordan together.
Co-written by co-lead actor Valery Lessard, Bryan Fitzgerald and director-actor Sarah Baskin, who plays Jordan, this affecting short drama is both emotionally intimate and narratively ambitious, balancing the story of two protagonists on separate paths before bringing them together in an affecting convergence. Adapted from a play of the same name by Annick Lefebvre, the strong and elegant writing toggles between Jordan's and Chloe's separate worlds and experiences. Though each character is different in temperament -- Jordan is more volatile, Chloe withdrawn -- brief flashes of the past help viewers understand that both women are having different reactions to the same loss: their friend Mathilde, who struggled with her mental health and eventually succumbed to her inner demons.
Captured in muted yet luminous naturalistic visuals, the setting of Montreal exerts a fascinating influence on the story. Montreal is a French-speaking city and a Francophone culture, and those who speak primarily English are often outsiders. This is partly why Jordan and Chloe have never met, though their mutual friend Mathilde could exist in Montreal's two worlds. But now that Mathilde is gone, these two women might never meet. Both are stranded and isolated in their grief for their friend, a sadness that transfigures their ordinary lives into something empty and lonely.
The storytelling's considerable alchemy of images, sound and editing rhythms evokes this atmosphere of being isolated in a crowded city, as do the performances of Baskin as Jordan and Lessard as Chloe. Both are very specifically drawn women who express their grief in different ways. Chloe withdraws, but Jordan acts out and flails, seeking out any kind of relief or understanding. She may appear "crazy" to the outside world, but when Chloe finally meets Jordan on the street, both women meet the one person who understands exactly what the other is going through -- and can comfort one another in the loss.
Lyrical and unafraid of sincerity, the ending of CHEAP HUGS is deeply affecting, but it earns that emotion because of the sensitive way it portrays the sadness and despair of those left behind after a loved one takes their own life. Jordan and Chloe are left adrift in the senselessness of Mathilde's act, each grappling with the sudden void in their lives. But their coming together also portrays the importance of reaching out during difficult times, as well as the healing that happens when someone recognizes our pain and suffering and offers a space for comfort. Jordan's final act, and the film's title, is a bold statement about the importance of such compassion, and how it should be offered freely for anyone who struggles.