In his first solo directorial effort, Three Night Stand, which he also wrote, Pat Kiely takes on the messiness of a fizzling marriage. It’s unclear just when they started to drift apart, but after being married for five years, young couple Carl (Sam Huntington) and Sue (Meaghan Rath) might as well be strangers.
In an effort to rekindle their romance, Carl takes Sue on a weekend ski trip to a resort in the Laurentians, the same one he used to go to with a former flame Robyn (Emmanuelle Chriqui), a woman with whom he had a steamy and passionate relationship he has never gotten over, as evidenced by the look on his face when she greets him at the resort’s front desk. She’s the new owner, and if you’ve ever been privy to a secret that you wish you can spill, you’ll know exactly what the first half of Three Night Stand feels like. It’s awkward and uncomfortable and you’re glad you’re watching it all unfold and not one of the parties involved. Sue has no idea Carl and Robyn have a past, let alone that her husband’s whisked her away to the same place he and her host spent days together.
Three Night Stand is set and shot in Montreal and the Laurentians and features a great supporting performance by Reagan Pasternak who plays Stacey, Carl’s wingwoman. The entire cast is very charming even when their characters do unlikeable and illogical things. Three Night Stand isn’t a rom-com in the traditional sense. It doesn’t break new ground comedically, but it is unconventional. The characters often do some very unromantic and mean things to each other, but Three Night Stand never feels false or like it’s trying hard to make terrible things happen to these people.
Three Night Stand opens at Cinéma du Parc on Friday, Feb. 7.
I caught up with Three Night Stand writer-director Pat Kiely, who grew up in Montreal’s N.D.G. neighbourhood, to talk about the film. Check out our Q&A below.
Chris Hanna 