Luc Picard Movies

Set against the backdrop of the 100-day Rwandan genocide, Robert Favreau's harrowing drama Un Dimanche à Kigali cuts back and forth between two time sequences. One unfolds as a flashback, prior to the genocide, when journalist Bernard Valcourt (Luc Picard) meets waitress Gentille (Fatou N'Diaye) at the Hôtel des Mille Collines (a woman many years his junior) and falls deeply in love with her. They strive to maintain the purity and sanctity of their love, but as political tensions escalate, the two find themselves pulled in increasingly opposite directions. The present sequence unfolds after the holocaust, when Bernard returns to the country alone, after he and Gentille have been separated by Rwandan bureaucracy. He comes back exclusively in search of his lover, but has few leads and the dimmest of hopes for locating her, as he combs through the ruins. The contrast between the two time periods depicted onscreen suggests the extent of the devastation that the genocide wrought. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Canadian filmmaker Pierre Falardeau, an outspoken advocate of independence for Quebec, directed this historical drama based on events stemming from the Rebellion of 1837, an early and ill-fated attempt by French Canadians to win their sovereignty. In 1837, Quebecois rebels, chafing under what they believed was exploitation and abuse at the hands of the British-backed Montreal government, attempted to stage a revolution, but the rebels were met with deadly force by British troops. Marie-Thomas De Lorimier (Luc Picard) and Charles Hindelang (Frederic Gilles), two leaders of the Rebellion of 1837, were captured and sentenced to death, and the bulk of 15 Fevrier 1839 follows the events of their final day on Earth as they await execution in a prison in Montreal. 15 Fevrier 1839 met with a great deal of controversy in Canada; the federally funded production company Telefilm Canada pulled its support from the project on three separate occasions before filming was completed, and the final results earned unfavorable comments from pro-Ottawa politicians, who were especially upset that a film funded by the Canadian government would so strongly support the Québecois separatist movement. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

An elderly alcoholic looks back on her many unhappy memories as she pulls together the fractured pieces of her life in this French-language drama from Canada. Paulette (Elise Guilbault) was an attractive young woman working in a factory when she fell in love with Belley (Michel Forget), a good-looking man with money, social status, and a wife. Paulette and Belley became lovers, but she was unhappy with her status as the other woman, and in time left Belley for a relationship with Frank (Luc Picard), an insurance agent. Paulette loved Frank and they soon wed, but Frank was chronically unfaithful, and their relationship became a source of constant sorrow. Shortly before the birth of their first child, Paulette began drowning her sorrows in alcohol, and while she tried to shut out the pain and humiliation of Frank's infidelity by caring for her child, it's wasn't long before she found that alcohol was the surest way to dull her pain, and her addiction to alcohol soon took precedence over everything in her life -- including her marriage and the care of her child. Meanwhile, Frank became all the more brazen in his affairs with other women, driving Paulette deeper and deeper into the abyss of drink. La Femme Qui Bot was screened as part of the Critics' Week program at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Montreal director Charles Biname (Eldorado) and novelist Monique Proulx used actor improvs as a basis for this screenplay look at life in Montreal. Unhappy Louise (Pascale Montpetit) can't connect with her career-minded sister Paulette (Anne-Marie Cadieux). To make matters worse, her lover Julien (Guy Nadon) is a married father with little time to spend seeing Louise -- so she takes to the streets, informing people at random that her services are available for exactly 60 minutes. Some talk away their hour, while others desire sex. One couple want Louise to play doctor-nurse with them, and a middle-aged woman has her dispose of a dead pet. Quebec celebrities seen in cameos include Montreal Festival of New Cinema director Claude Chamberlan. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

This Canadian psychological thriller, based upon a true story wherein a Quebec cabinet minister was kidnapped in October 1970 by French-Canadian terrorists, has a pro French-Canadian sentiment that is guaranteed to spark controversy among northern viewers. The film is especially as the tensions between French-Canadians and the Canadian government remain high. The story is presented from the viewpoint of four members of the Front de Liberation du Quebec. In the first scene, members of the FLQ are rapidly escaping after dumping the corpse of Pierre Laporte, Labor Minister, into their car trunk. Using flashback, the film chronicles the week prior to the murder including the actual kidnapping. Much of the action occurs in the bungalow to which to terrorists took LaPorte. There they must wrestle with the potential consequences of their actions. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Alex (Roy Dupuis) has a deeply troubled mind. He also has a seriously dysfunctional - not to say incestuous - family. Why then, has he returned from his merchant seaman job to the rocky coasts of his home? Perhaps he couldn't cut manage to march in his father's footsteps in that job. His mother (Andree Lachapelle) doesn't seem to mind, and lets him stay at her bed and breakfast hotel. His sister (Elise Guilbault) still seems to have the hots for him, just as she does for his (and her) old boyfriend Jean-Louis (Gilbert Sicotte), who has just shown up. Even his mother seems to find him sexy. All these people appear eager to get their hands on his body, but he's too wrapped up in what's going on inside his head to notice. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide