Jean-Claude Labrecque Movies
- 2007
Veteran actors Guylaine Tremblay and Guy Jodoin headline director Bernard Émond's grim tale about a struggling directory assistance operator who takes decisive action after falling into dire straits. Réjeane has just been downsized as a result of corporate restructuring, and this harsh blow couldn't have come at a worse time: her husband Gilles (Jodoin) is currently on the mend from a massive stroke and the couple desperately needs money to pay his medical bills. When Réjeane learns that the president of the company that laid her off is earning $16 million a year, the injustice off seeing so many of her co-workers rendered destitute by the downsizing lights a fuse within her that will not be extinguished. Later, while being questioned in a police interrogation room, the stoic seeker of justice proves unable to summon the words to justify her drastic actions. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Guylaine Tremblay, Guy Jodoin, (more)
- 2005
The faith of a caring physician and an unquestioningly religious youth is shaken to the core when the pair is inexplicably brought together in a bizarre twist of fate and tragedy in Canadian director Bernard Émond's thought-provoking drama. Jeanne (Elise Guilbault) is a committed Montreal physician whose kindly bedside manner has propelled her to the top of her profession, earning the respect of her peers and the love of her patients. Her faith in humanity is forever shaken when her attempts to aid an abused patient and her helpless child result in a horrific act of violence. When an aimless drive leads her to the town of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré that houses a popular Catholic shrine, her attempt to drown herself in the St. Lawrence River is thwarted by François (Patrick Drolet), a young man commuting to Saint-Anne so that he may recite the novena for his ailing grandmother. As the pair enter into a tenuous friendship and the condition of François' grandmother gradually worsens, the staunchly religious teen begins experiencing his own crisis of faith. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Elise Guilbault
- 2001
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, Rovi
- Starring:
- Elise Guilbault, Luc Picard, (more)
- 1986
Although an unlikely topic for a 75-minute theatrical documentary, the viewpoints of Montreal city garbagemen that are presented here might stand up to a one-hour slot at prime time. The astute, socially insightful, and comic statements that these men offer in relation to the objects and the amounts of food that society throws away would give anyone pause. One of their lessons would be to "waste not" and at least recycle whenever possible. Songs and views of neatly packaged garbage waiting for pick up down tree-lined streets, as well as views of a landfill complete this look at the underbelly of consumption in the provincial capital of Quebec. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- 1984
Continuing a saga that began with his previous, 1978 film, Vautours director Jean-Claude Labrecque returns with the French Canadian, Louis Pelletier (Gilbert Sicotte) and puts him in the context of the growing separatist movement in the late 1960s in Quebec. At that time, supporters of an independent Quebec began to consolidate their power under the Parti Québecois -- and the story of Louis and his wife Claudette (Anne-Marie Provencher) are meant to illustrate this watershed in Quebec's history. As the film begins, Claudette and Louis are about to get married -- and their wedding day significantly coincides with preparations for the visit of Queen Elizabeth II. Years later, they are well-established in Montreal and are enjoying visits from their family -- and then their lives start to deteriorate. Louis is suddenly out of work, and as he faces the difficulties of finding another job -- and of living precariously -- he becomes more radical, less accepting of the status quo. Although Labrecque's Années de Rêves is of excellent quality in all departments, the downbeat second half of the film and the subtly anti-separatist stance will not play equally well to all audiences. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Anne-Marie Provencher, Gilbert Sicotte, (more)
- 1981
In this literary documentary, seven poets from Quebec read and/or sing their works during a Festival of Contemporary Art at La Rochelle in France. The film starts out with an introduction into the connections between Quebec and La Rochelle and then just focuses on the poets themselves. The highly inflamed issue of English vs. French in Quebec is an invisible subtext to the readings - in French. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- 1980
Documentary filmmaker Jean-Claude Labrecque has stayed close to his calling in this dramatization of the trial of Wilbert Coffin in Quebec in the 1950s. Three American hunters were murdered in the woods, and Coffin, an English-speaking prospector from the dominantly Francophone province, came under suspicion. He helped the detectives in their search for clues through the woods and admitted that he had stolen some things from the hunters -- but he certainly did not kill them, he said. In the end, Coffin is arrested and tried while all along he protests his innocence. Given the rising emotions among the pro-French-speaking factions in Quebec at the time as well as other political factors hinted at in the film, Coffin may have been a simple scapegoat. Labrecque informs, as always, but does not necessarily hit the dramatic highs that a feature-length film needs to hold a general audience. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- August Schellenberg, Yvon Dufour, (more)
- 1978
Although he is something of a layabout, and is still living with his mother, her death comes as something of a shock to Louis Pelletier (Gilbert Sicotte). Still, he has hopes of some sort of legacy and believes that his relatives will help him find a job. All his hopes are dashed when, before the funeral, his three aunts come to Quebec City to settle their sister's estate. As grasping and efficient a crew as ever strode a parlor, by the time they leave, the estate has been cleaned to the bones, as if by vultures. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Gilbert Sicotte, Monique Mercure, (more)
- 1977
This is a straightforward documentary showing a selection of contests at the 1976 Montreal Olympic games. Among the highlights: the decathalon championship competition of Bruce Jenner, and the gymnastic feats of the Rumanian Nadia Comaneci. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- 1974
In this French-language drama, the psychological tensions which are driving four bourgeois couples apart are blithely ignored, as they attempt to party through them, all the while discussing politics, flirting, and drinking heavily. One of the couples includes the daughter of an older couple, together with her first serious lover. An idyllic pair at first, their problems multiply and they begin to resemble their more dejected and dissipated elders. The movie is based on the successful play by Marcel Dube. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- 1973
Against the backdrop of impending war, an enterprising pimp and his seven working girls arrive in Borntown, northern Quebec, in the Christmas season of 1938. The entrepreneurs give a lavish reception right in the mine, which is the reason for the town's existence (and their presence). Afterwards, the usual difficulties of starting a new business come to the fore, with the additional difficulty of hell-and-brimstone sermons from the local priest (Jacques Dufilho). This film is in French. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Micheline Lanctôt, Donald Pilon, (more)
- 1972
In this French Canadian film, when the provincial government tries to move two young farmers from their land to make way for development, the two fight back, accidentally killing a policeman and becoming outlaws in the process. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- 1971
In a mixture of French and English, this Canadian film tells the somewhat muddled story of a lad growing up in Montreal. Without many prospects, the boy is confused on the one hand by his virginal but fanatically separatist French-speaking girlfriend, and his goofy (but sexually available) English girlfriend who is a model. Somehow, this confusion later leads him to bank robbery. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- 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, Rovi
- 1968
Reni Santoni, the talented star of Carl Reiner's Enter Laughing, heads the cast of this Canadian film. Santoni plays a luckless 23-year-old who has vague plans of becoming a novelist. Unwilling to do anything so mundane as getting a job, he begs, borrows and steals, driving even his best friends to distraction. There were a whole slew of aimless-youth pictures in the late 1960s, many of them as aimless as the youths they were portraying. That The Great Big Thing has a little more coherence than usual can be attributed to the guiding hand of British-born director Eric Till. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Reni Santoni, Paul Sand, (more)
- 1967
A young man (Claude Gauthier) sets out from his hometown of Quebec and travels to Montreal to seek his fortune. He takes a succession of odd jobs before hitting it big as a singer. He has eyes for a waitress (Genevieve Bujold) in a greasy spoon diner before his crooning career takes him to hang out in more upscale restaurants. The young man falls for another girl who leaves him, and he is just as lonely as he was in his small town in Quebec before he found success. All the money in the world won't bring back his girl in this independent feature with the backdrop of burgeoning speeches of Quebec declaring independence from the rest of Canada. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Geneviève Bujold, Claude Gauthier, (more)
- 1965
Leopold (Guy L'Ecuyer), a Montreal snow-plow operator, busy removing snow from the streets on Christmas Eve, manages to at least find time to take out a loan and shop for a fur coat to present to his wife as a Christmas present. Leopold also must take care of his cousin, a nightclub singer who just arrived in town. Leopold's boss believes he is up to no good as he misinterprets his employee's hectic antics. This comedy won the Grand Prize at the Third Annual Festival of Canadian Films. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Paul Hebert, Guy L'Ecuyer, (more)
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