Cafe de Flore

Two parallel and seemingly unrelated stories of love are presented. The stories, which take place approximately forty years apart, each center on a male, with one, according to the narrator of both stories, who knows how privileged his life is but still isn't quite content, and the other who doesn't know how difficult his life should be in his general bliss. The first story, which takes place largely in present day Montreal, centers on forty year old Antoine Godin, who seemingly has everything in life: a job as a DJ he likes, financial security because of it, good health, and the love of the people around him, including his parents, his two daughters, and his girlfriend Rose. But what provides a conflict in his emotions is his relationship with Carole, his ex-wife and mother to their two daughters. Antoine and Carole shared twenty years together - they teenaged sweethearts who always believed they would be together - and would arguably still be married if Rose didn't enter his life. As Antoine still loves Carole, Carole still loves Antoine and believes if she and Rose had met under different circumstances that they would be friends. Conversely, Rose feels threatened by the attachment Antoine still has to Carole, and not just because of the girls, and as such Carole may be an impediment to Antoine and Rose ever getting married. The second story, which takes place largely in 1969 Paris, centers on seven year old Laurent Brunet, who has Down Syndrome. Laurent's life should be difficult coming from a single parent working class family as his father abandoned the family in not being able to deal with the thought of having a disabled child, but his hairdresser mother, Jacqueline, has done everything in her power not only to show Laurent that she loves him with all her heart but to provide him as normal a childhood as possible and not one where he is seen as "special" because of his Down Syndrome. Things have the potential to change with the entrance of Veronique into their lives, Vero a new student in Laurent's class who also has Down Syndrome. Laurent and Vero end up having a special bond with each other, they who want to spend all their time together and cannot understand why they can't. It is borderline suicidal Carole (due to the dissolution of her marriage) who may find the tie between these two stories in trying to understand some recurring dreams she is having.