Jean-Pierre Lefebvre Movies
- 1998
Jean Pierre Lefebrvre directed this Canadian drama, the final film in a trilogy that began in 1967 with Don't Let It Kill You and continued in 1977 with The Old Country Where Rimbaud Died. All three feature Abel Gagne (Marcel Sabourin), a 55-year-old pilot who stopped flying after a friend died in a crash 15 years earlier. Abel and his friend Antoine (Jean-Pierre Ronfard) operate a small Quebec airfield. Acquiring a vintage Tiger Moth biplane, Abel plans to fly once again, but problems arise: a bank will seize his assets if a debt goes unpaid, and his father Napoleon (Claude Blanchard), who deserted the family decades earlier, suddenly turns up, creating friction. Filmed in farmlands south of Montreal. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marcel Sabourin, Jean-Pierre Ronfard, (more)
- 1989
In this uneventful drama, filmed for the most part in the Canadian Rockies, a white man raised among Native Americans suffers a mid-life crisis and attempts in some fashion to return to his roots. Formerly a professor of anthropology, he was raised among the native peoples of British Columbia and, though white, feels a close kinship with them. He even married a Haida woman. Some inherent restlessness propelled him into a career selling carved wooden masks, but he is no longer satisfied with this. An encounter with another academic rekindles his desire to return to his birthplace. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1988
Jean-Pierre Lefebvre's direction is apparent in this symbolic, avant garde film. An elderly man sits in a chair in a snow-covered woods. Children cut out colorful pictures from magazines that later become animated. A woman in a black veil wheels a baby carriage to the sea. The old man gives a lonely blonde woman and the children black boxes as everyone waits for the sun to shine on them and relieve the gloom of winter. Lovers of avant garde cinema will find merit in the feature while others will question its meaning and obscurity. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joseph Champagne, Arsinée Khanjian, (more)
- 1987
In this biographical film which completely intermingles dramatic reenactments with documentary footage and interviews, the life of the Quebeçois sculptor Alfred Laliberte (whose works can be seen throughout the city of Montreal and the province), is told by the Quebeçois filmmaker whose 1982 drama (Les Fleurs Sauvage) won the international critic's prize at Cannes that year. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Hebert, Albert Millaire, (more)
- 1984
One day Jean-Baptiste Beauregard (Pierre Curzi) does not go out to face work or daily activities, instead he daydreams about the women in his past, about his teenage years, his failed marriage, and even his boyhood desires. His mental images follow each other across the screen, revealing that the women in his life are all the same (different wigs and costumes on the same actress), and his love life never changes either. This sameness can have a dulling effect on the viewers, indicating that if Jean-Baptiste's reminiscences were trimmed and his daydreams more varied and exciting, he would hold interest a little longer. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pierre Curzi, Marie Tifo, (more)
- 1983
Through the death of his wife, his taking a new wife, the birth of his child, and other personal and professional events, director Jean-Pierre Lefebvre kept film rolling in his camera and later put the segments together without editing and with some commentary, as this cinematic result. Rather than a finished whole, this documentary seems more like a part of a larger idea that will be shelved until needed again. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- 1981
Simone Dubuc (Nadine Nadeau) lives in Quebec with her husband Pierre (Pierre Curzi) and two children. Each year, her mother (Michele Magny) comes for her regular visit, and each year, Simone gives her mother a bunch of wild flowers and they fruitlessly try to talk to each other in a normal, human way. The family takes some trips together -- to the seashore, to a farm -- and throughout their excursions the mother and daughter never really share their true thoughts, opting for their usual formal exchanges -- in fact, the mother is adept at making her daughter squirm if she tries to be too informal. Resolution seems a long way off, but then, there is always next year... ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nadine Nadeau, Michele Magny, (more)
- 1977
A young French-Canadian, who has romanticized notions of France, based on great works of literature and art decides to visit his fabled ancestral homeland, and discovers the simple reality of the place and its living, breathing, very ordinary human beings. While there, he meets several people, and has an affair with a woman jurist with an unhappy marriage. Considerably enlightened, rather than disillusioned, he returns to his Canadian home. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marcel Sabourin, Anouk Ferjac, (more)
- 1971
In this meditative French-language film, a fur trapper and a young Native American woman appear in a variety of scenes and situations from 1670 to 1970. These scenes highlight philosophical issues regarding humanity's perspective on mankind and how this affects attitudes to those who differ from one's own clan or group. The argument is made that beliefs and attitudes have not changed substantially during that time. A highlight of this film is its fine camerawork. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1970
This feature was the official entry for Canada at the 1970 Berlin Film Festival. There is no plot to this film that features full frontal male and female nudity and coitus between the supposed actors and actresses. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Pierre Cartier, Larry Kent, (more)
- 1970
This amateur feature was poorly filmed in 16mm and is plagued by poor color processing. The thin plot is enacted by Francine Mathieu, Yves Marchand, Gerard Forteir and Madeline Thibault. The premiere at 1970 Benalmadena Film Festival emptied more than half the audience well before the 68-minute feature came to an end. Confrontational and radically experimental director Jean-Pierre Lefebvre had achieved the effect he was looking for. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- 1970
This plodding piece of cinematic ambiguity finds a married couple engaged in boring conversation in a window as scenery changes behind them. When they manage to talk about love, some of the tedium is lifted in the wake of their amorous verbiage. This black and white effort from Jean-Pierre Lefebvre depends on symbolic impressionism rather than plot. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michele Magny, Marcel Sabourin, (more)
- 1970
Entre Tu Et Vous is a self-indulgent experimental film that despite its technical proficiencies fails to communicate on anything more than an narrowly limited platform. Filmed in black and white with some parts shown in "negative" format. The director seems to be attempting to make a statement about the relationship of the individual to society, but even that generalization may be unclear. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pierre Harel, Paule Baillargeon, (more)
- 1969
This montage-like, symbolic film deals with society's oppression of the individual. Combinations of black-and-white and color photography are used to take satirical swipes at advertising, nuclear war, and abortion, and to illustrate the fact that humankind has a choice and the heart can never be captured. The abstract and at times incomprehensible format and plodding pace of this film will not appeal to most tastes. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Charlebois
- 1968
This plodding independent effort finds a young man from Montreal quaintly out of touch with reality. He believes he has no control over the inevitable changes in life. He let's things just happen rather than make any stable or realistic plans. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marcel Sabourin, Monique Champagne, (more)
- 1968
This initial effort by Jean-Pierre Lefebvre finds some dissident youths from Quebec training for the upcoming "revolution." They inhabit a run-down house in the country and try to prepare themselves for guerilla warfare. The inept rebels end up killing each other off in this political and social satire. A brief animated segment details the history of Canada. By the time this feature appeared at the 1968 Berlin Film Festival, Lefebvre has added four more films to his credit. His efforts brought him acclaim as one of the country's best young filmmakers. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
