How Long Is “Looking for Cheyenne”?

A warm and gentle human fable with a left-wing political undercurrent, the French-language picture Looking for Cheyenne concerns two women passionately in love with one another, and yet hopelessly separated. Journalist Cheyenne (Mila Dekker) is reeling -- not only from a split with one of the great loves of her life, high school science prof Sonia (Aurelia Petit), but from a recent and unexpected job loss -- the product of her company's decision to downsize. When she finds it next to impossible to land another job, Cheyenne eventually throws up her hands in disgust and drops out altogether. Refusing to live by society's constraints, and rejecting every government "handout" that comes down the pike, Cheyenne lives without running water, electricity, or groceries, preferring instead to live off of discarded vegetables that she discovers in trash cans and to light her residence with candles. Meanwhile, Sonia keeps her job, but enters into an affair with a freewheeling young man, Pierre. An anarchist who spends his time passing out flyers full of anarchist catchphrases and taglines, he readily admits to Sonia that he could care less about her pansexuality and is willing to accept her on her own terms. Sonia's affair represents an attempt to drown the sorrow out of her life, for she -- like Cheyenne -- is still destroyed and devastated by the recent breakup. As each woman grapples with a unique outlet for her sorrow, eccentric and endearing characters waltz in and out of their lives and form various romantic couplings; these include a wealthy middle-aged woman of a predatory nature (Guilaine Londez); a comely and naïve coed who decides to stage her own form of social rebellion (Eleonore Michelin); an affable and ebullient Russian (Miglen Mirtchev); and a man who believes in returning to the soil (Laurence Côte). Director Valerie Minetto thus weaves together a giant life tapestry composed of joys and sorrows, unexpected treasures, and resounding disappointments.