Mon oncle Antoine (1971)
Country: CAN
Technical: col 104m
Director: Claude Jutra
Cast: Jacques Gagnon, Jean Duceppe, Olivette Thibault, Claude Jutra
Synopsis:
In a remote Québecois asbestos mining community we see the adults' lives through the eyes of the children, in particular the nephew of the local storekeeper/undertaker.
Review:
In a narrative almost shorn of dramatic incident - what there is concerns a farming family and the death of their eldest from fever - we focus on the minutiae of existence: the arrangement and unveiling of the Christmas shopwindow display, the purchase of a corset by the local belle, the distribution of trinkets by the mine owner, the removal of a barrel of nails from the lobby of the shop (homage to W.C. Fields?), all acquire a sense of the momentous owing to the drabness of these people's lives, partly because their energy and optimism consistently shines through. Uncle Antoine's frequent downing of schnapps is an index of his own need for escape, as well as the trigger for the one dramatic event in the film. Shot with Loachian flatness of cinematography and naturalistic acting, this is one of Québec cinema's figurehead works. Footnote: one secretly wonders if David Lynch based the characters played by Jack Nance and Piper Laurie in Twin Peaks on Uncle Antoine and his wife, so striking is the resemblance of the former and their predicament as a couple.
Country: CAN
Technical: col 104m
Director: Claude Jutra
Cast: Jacques Gagnon, Jean Duceppe, Olivette Thibault, Claude Jutra
Synopsis:
In a remote Québecois asbestos mining community we see the adults' lives through the eyes of the children, in particular the nephew of the local storekeeper/undertaker.
Review:
In a narrative almost shorn of dramatic incident - what there is concerns a farming family and the death of their eldest from fever - we focus on the minutiae of existence: the arrangement and unveiling of the Christmas shopwindow display, the purchase of a corset by the local belle, the distribution of trinkets by the mine owner, the removal of a barrel of nails from the lobby of the shop (homage to W.C. Fields?), all acquire a sense of the momentous owing to the drabness of these people's lives, partly because their energy and optimism consistently shines through. Uncle Antoine's frequent downing of schnapps is an index of his own need for escape, as well as the trigger for the one dramatic event in the film. Shot with Loachian flatness of cinematography and naturalistic acting, this is one of Québec cinema's figurehead works. Footnote: one secretly wonders if David Lynch based the characters played by Jack Nance and Piper Laurie in Twin Peaks on Uncle Antoine and his wife, so striking is the resemblance of the former and their predicament as a couple.
Country: CAN
Technical: col 104m
Director: Claude Jutra
Cast: Jacques Gagnon, Jean Duceppe, Olivette Thibault, Claude Jutra
Synopsis:
In a remote Québecois asbestos mining community we see the adults' lives through the eyes of the children, in particular the nephew of the local storekeeper/undertaker.
Review:
In a narrative almost shorn of dramatic incident - what there is concerns a farming family and the death of their eldest from fever - we focus on the minutiae of existence: the arrangement and unveiling of the Christmas shopwindow display, the purchase of a corset by the local belle, the distribution of trinkets by the mine owner, the removal of a barrel of nails from the lobby of the shop (homage to W.C. Fields?), all acquire a sense of the momentous owing to the drabness of these people's lives, partly because their energy and optimism consistently shines through. Uncle Antoine's frequent downing of schnapps is an index of his own need for escape, as well as the trigger for the one dramatic event in the film. Shot with Loachian flatness of cinematography and naturalistic acting, this is one of Québec cinema's figurehead works. Footnote: one secretly wonders if David Lynch based the characters played by Jack Nance and Piper Laurie in Twin Peaks on Uncle Antoine and his wife, so striking is the resemblance of the former and their predicament as a couple.