Claude Jutra (Canada 1971)

BACK TO QUEBEC FILM WEEK

Long heralded as a stellar example of Québecois cinema, this 1971 gem looks at various denizens of a small northern town in the 1940s. As Christmas approaches, workers from the local asbestos mine grumble about their boss and consider other employment. Much of the rest of the village’s preholiday activity takes place at the general store run by Antoine (Jean Duceppe) and his wife Cecile (Olivette Thibault). A childless couple, they look after a young girl named Carmen (Lyne Champagne) and their nephew Benoit (Jacques Gagnon). The latter is a slightly mischievous, wide-eyed altar boy who is just beginning to understand the subtle undercurrents flowing among the store’s various patrons. There’s Fernand (played by writer/director Claude Jutra), who has a crush on Cecile, a town beauty who comes to try on lingerie, and the boy’s own uncle and aunt who have a complicated but loving relationship. Not to mention Benoit’s own burgeoning crush on Carmen. Splendidly evocative of its time and place, with a finely tuned naturalism and assured cinematography, Jutra’s film garnered three of that year’s top Canadian Film Awards and has rightfully cemented its place as one of Canada’s most beloved films.

Written by Clément Perron, Claude Jutra. Photographed by Michel Brault. With Jean Duceppe, Olivette Thibault, Claude Jutra, Jacques Gagnon (104 min, National Film Board of Canada).  WATCH

December 14, 2008, Landmark’s Opera Plaza Cinema
1:15 pm