The High Cost of Living

2010 Drama

A tragedy brings together two strangers in this independent drama from Canada. Nathalie Beauchamp (Isabelle Blais) and Henry Welles (Zach Braff) live just a few blocks away from one another in Montreal, but they have precious little in common. Nathalie is married to a wealthy man (Patrick Labbe), has a fine home, and is excited about the birth of her first child in a month. Henry, on the other hand, supports himself dealing drugs, rents a grubby Chinatown flat, and lives his life in constant motion. One night, Henry accidentally runs into Nathalie and speeds off before the police can catch up with him. Henry's conscience gets the better of him and he tracks down Nathalie to see if she's OK; he's crushed when he learns that she's fine, but her baby died and she'll be giving birth to a stillborn infant. Nathalie's husband reacts in a callous fashion to the news and she turns her back on him, setting out on her own. Henry befriends Nathalie and offers to take her in as she tries to start a new life; however, he doesn't have the courage to tell her it was his actions that set these events in motion. The first feature film from writer and director Deborah Chow, The High Cost of Living was an official selection at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival. more..

Director: Deborah Chow

Starring: Zach Braff, Isabelle Blais, Patrick Labbe, Julian Lo

 12 Reviews  1 Awards

Reviews

  • Set in a noirish, gleaming Montreal, this handsome, captivating, well-paced and stylish film is fully realized in every aspect.

    Kevin Thomas - Los Angeles Times

    27 April 2013

  • Shared tragedy can bind together the most unlikely of people. Movies often make too much of that truism, but surprisingly committed performances from actors like these can still make it feel like something meaningful.

    Eric Hynes - Time Out New York

    27 April 2013

  • Although there are moments when lead thesps Zach Braff ("Scrubs", "Garden State") and Isabelle Blais just about pull off the implausible conceit, the picture still suffers from major problems of tone as well as stilted camerawork and editing.

    - Variety

    27 April 2013

  • This debut feature by the Canadian director Deborah Chow is so artistically well-intentioned and earnest in its ambitions that you can almost forgive the banality of its every scene.

    - The New York Times

    27 April 2013

  • Deborah Chow's ridiculously implausible yet still predictable tale of guilt and redemption is so bipolar in tone that when it's not a more linear rip-off of Guillermo Arriaga's grim and gritty melodramas (21 Grams, Babel), it's the kind of quirky indie romance that made Braff's name.

    - Village Voice

    27 April 2013

Awards

  • Deborah Chow

    Toronto International Film Festival (2010)

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