La Donation (2008) Reviews

A doctor looking for new meaning in her life tries practicing a different kind of medicine in this drama from writer and director Bernard Emond. Dr. Yves Rainville (Jacques Godin) has been a general practitioner in Normétal, a small town in Quebec, for four decades; he's watched a generation of patients grow up as the town has gone into a long economic decline as the local mining business has dried up. Rainville's health is not what it once was, and he's begun looking for an assistant and possible replacement; Dr. Jeanne Dion (Élise Guilbault) has grown tired of working in a big-city hospital, so she answers an ad Rainville has placed in a medical journal. Dion quickly finds that she must deal with the emotional concerns of her clients in a way she's not accustomed to, and is drawn into the lives of a broad range of people, from a teenage girl struggling with an unexpected pregnancy to a wealthy eccentric who prefers not to leave his home. As Dion becomes familiar with the lives of the people of Normétal, Rainville wants to find a way to thank them for all they've done for him. La Donation (aka The Legacy) was the final film in a trilogy from director Emond, following 2005's La Neuvaine (aka The Novena) and 2007's Contre Toute Espererance (aka Summit Circle). ~ Mark Deming, Rovi