Familiar Grounds is split in 3 chapters - Accident #1, 2 and 3. First one is offscreen severing of a worker's arm at a cardboard box factory Maryse works at. The motif of arm courses throughout the film. Lafleur's connecting visual gags are perhaps the subtlest of them all in cinema and I love it. The second "accident" is a small bird running into Benoit's window. He cooks it for dinner, not realizing that it is too small for 4 people. The third one concerns the man of the future, as he tells Benoit that his sister is going to be in a fatal car accident. He also tells him that it will be a beautiful summer. Wry, affecting and inventive, Lafleur's world has a unique, quiet charm all to itself. These accidents in life are not going to be life changing for these lonely, confused, disconnected people, but they give them a some sense of comfort that whether they know it or not, that we are all somehow connected in this world. #canadiancinema #stephanelafleur