Oublier Cheyenne SKINNYFest

Oublier Cheyenne' is a gentle and touching exploration of what can drive two people apart, and what can keep them together. The film is lifted into the superlative by the central performance of Aurélia Petit; immensely watchable as Sonia, a dedicated and compassionate teacher, whose girlfriend Cheyenne leaves Paris for a life in the country 'outside the system'. Loving her job, and – at least equally – the materialistic comforts capitalism brings, Sonia ends the relationship, and beings the process of 'forgetting Cheyenne', from which the French title is taken.
Other characters glide into the film with little explanation of what motivates them, reflecting beautifully the unquestioning acceptance Sonia offers the people who enter her life. This lack of background detail also contributes to a sense that we are looking in on Sonia's life just for a moment; we know only as much about each individual as she does. As we engage with Sonia so directly, we are able too, to share some of her faith in human relationsnips as protection against the ills of society.
The film's sporadic forays into surrealist dream sequences manage to offer insight without disrupting the gentle pace, and provide the most convincing comic moments, as when two of Sonia's lovers meet in her dream, and head off to the kitchen to look for cheese.
There are also moments of sharp analysis of French society, in the bored and unfulfilled students Sonia teaches, and Cheyenne's impassioned denunciations of materialism. Ultimately, however, the story offers more hope than despair, asserting that old adage, that love can conquer, well, at least most things, and certainly helps in dealing with them all.