Cinema
My Uncle Antoine
Mon oncle Antoine
Claude Jutra · 1971
Synopsis
A mining village in the asbestos region, in the forties, on Christmas Eve. Benoît, fifteen, an orphan, lives with his uncle Antoine, who keeps the general store and also acts as undertaker, and with his aunt Cécile. It is the only day the mine closes, and the whole village passes through the store, where the clerk Fernand and the young Carmen work. In the evening, news comes of the death of Jos Poulin's eldest son, who had gone to a logging camp, and Antoine and Benoît set out by sleigh, in the storm, to fetch the body.
Context
The screenplay is by Clément Perron, who drew on his childhood near the asbestos mines, where an uncle kept the general store. The village there is dominated by an English-speaking boss who, from the top of his cart, throws cheap Christmas presents to the families of his workers; Criterion and the Canadian Encyclopedia read in it the Quebec of before the Quiet Revolution. In 1971 the film received eight prizes at the Canadian Film Awards, including those for best film, direction and screenplay, and the Golden Hugo in Chicago.
Who it is for
One hour forty-four minutes, in Quebec French, seen entirely through the eyes of an adolescent; the pace is slow.
Prizes and reception
Ranked the best Canadian film of all time in the Toronto festival's decennial polls of 1984, 1993 and 2004, and second in 2015.
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