In Montreal, the teenagers Manon (Jacinthe Laguë), Anne (Julie Deslauriers), Isa (Ingrid Falaise), Claudie (Brigitte Lafleur) and Sophie (Noémie Yelle) are friends since their childhood. While spending a couple of days in the cottage of Sophie's parents nearby a lake, the girls decide to give a party, and Manon and Sophie hitch for a ride to the town in a jeep to buy some beers and supplies and they invite the driver to the party. On the return, the same driver stops the car and later Mano is found stabbed, raped and covered of blood. Fifteen years later, Manon sees the guy in a car-wash and she invites her former friends to return to the house nearby the lake, where wounds of their traumatic loss are disclosed.
"Elles Étaient Cinq" is an impressive, sensitive, touching and powerful movie. The unknown and promising director Ghyslaine Côté discloses a simple and tragic but credible story of murder and rape using ellipsis and flashbacks, entwined by a whirlpool of conflictive emotions and feelings in human characters. She shows the effects of the act of a psychopath in the lives of four young women, and the consequences for the rest of their lives, without the use of clichés or easy solutions. The talented actresses absolutely unknown in Brazil are stunning with their awesome performances and Jacinthe Laguë deserved a nomination to the Oscar for the outstanding interpretation. The cinematography is very beautiful, showing landscapes in Montreal like a post card. I only regret the disgraceful title in the Brazilian DVD that certainly misleads the target audience of this excellent movie. My vote is nine.
Title (Brazil): "Carona Sinistra" ("Sinister Ride")
