Looking for Cheyenne: French Cinema Worth Watching

"Looking for Cheyenne" is the story of two Parisian lovers. Cheyenne is an unemployed journalist who becomes jaded by the materialistic world in which she lives and leaves Paris to live in pastoral squalor. Her lover, Sonia, loves her job and refuses to leave the city. Sonia seeks solace in the arms of several other lovers only to discover that she cannot bear to live with out Cheyenne, her one true love.

After receiving her final unemployment check, Cheyenne becomes fed up with the materialistic establishment of Paris and decides to give up everything and leave the city for a life of uncomfortable squalor. Her lover, Sonia, loves her teaching job and comforts and will not leave them behind to join her. In her attempts to put ease her pain and put Cheyenne out of her thoughts, Sonia attempts to find comfort in a series of disappointing romances. Only after a number of these unsatisfying trysts does she finally discover that she cannot rid herself of Cheyenne's memory.

This film is just as much social commentary as it is love story. While Cheyenne flails uselessly against an unjust and uncaring society, Sonia wallows in self-pity and self-delusion over what she feels is her ineffective love. A lot of the story is run through Sonia's conversations with the camera and the lovers that visit her in her dreams. Although this is a French language movie, with English subtitles, the dialog doesn't mince and is easy enough to follow. The characters show a great depth of passion and easily draw the audience in. In the end, this film makes us question our ability and capacity to love someone in a cynical society without that love becoming cynical itself.

Do we play the game or do we decide to love who we choose, without the rules of society dragging things down? This film pits love against the need to remain in our convenient corner of the world, surrounded by the comforts of modern life. Straight or gay, most people will find this to be a tender and heart-rending love story that will find us questioning how we live our lives and what we would be willing to sacrifice for love. This isn't the best film the French have offered up, but it is definitely worth watching.