Out Standing, 2025.
Directed by Mélanie Charbonneau.
Starring Nina Kiri, Vincent Leclerc, Enrico Colantoni, Adrian Walters, Antoine Pilon, Stephen Thomas Kalyn and Conrad Pla.
SYNOPSIS:
Officer Sandra Perron resigns from the Canadian military after a controversial photo surfaces. Adapting to civilian life amidst an investigation, she denies abuse allegations despite evidence suggesting mistreatment within her unit.
The Handmaid’s Tale alum Nina Kiri is herself outstanding in Mélanie Charbonneau’s Out Standing, the biopic of Sandra Perron, the first Canadian woman to serve in the Canadian Armed Forces at infantry level and lead a squad as its captain. Led by the strength of Kiri’s performance and Charbonneau’s direction, Out Standing is a fantastic Canadian film examining Perron’s early military career and the struggles she had to overcome in the face of overwhelming sexism and misogyny.
Perron’s tale begins in the early 1990s when she joins the military for training, being one of the few women in her regiment when the CAF opened the doors for females to join. As the other women drop out one by one due to the discrimination they face, Perron keeps going. Flash forward a few years and Perron is the subject of an internal military investigation into allegations of abuse and misconduct during her training despite her reluctance to take part in the investigation or be in the media’s spotlight.
Charbonneau’s non-linear story as it flashes back and forth between Perron’s past and present is told very well and concisely, moving between the two points at appropriate moments to reveal the intricate layers of Perron’s character and what she went through during her training and beyond. It is quite an insightful look at both her personally and her experiences without casting judgement on the military institution as a whole but neither shying away from the backwards thinking of several of Perron’s fellow soldiers and superiors. It is a tight balancing act, but one Charbonneau passes over successfully.
Kiri meanwhile gives an impressive performance as Perron, capturing the strength of her character and physical ability quite well. She carries the film through her emotional and determined portrayal, having great chemistry with the cast but most notably Enrico Colantoni, Adrian Walters and Conrad Pla. The nuance she gives in the role as Perron has to bury some elements of her treatment while accepting others as just regular training is also a balancing act but one she excels at. Kiri’s focus in her role is never broken as she puts all her energy into Perron’s development, making her both likeable and relatable while being disgusted at the misogyny she faced in and out of the army.
The cinematography presents many great visuals, especially in some of the nighttime scenes where it could have easily been confusing to mix up characters or be too dark to tell what was going on. They are well lit, edited and shot with a great amount of tension being placed as viewers are put literally in Perron’s perspective during some of the tougher moments in her training to create a sense of uneasiness and trepidation. It is a very effective method in a film that is not a full-out army action thriller but a character drama.
Charbonneau and Kiri succeed in telling Sandra Perron’s story in Out Standing, bringing forth tough material that is not only sadly still relevant 30 years after the fact, but not a uniquely Canadian story either. Kiri’s performance is incredibly strong which honours Perron’s experiences and shows her capacity for emotional and physical depth. Charbonneau, Kiri and the cast and crew knock it out of the park in Out Standing.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
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