''1981'', longer title ''1981: L'année où je suis devenu un menteur'' (''1981: The Year I Became a Liar''), is a 2009

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

French language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

film from

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

written and directed by

Ricardo Trogi Ricardo Trogi (born March 25, 1970) is a Canadian filmmaker, director and actor. Career Trogi was born in Quebec City, Quebec. His first two films, '' Québec-Montréal'', about seven twenty-something travellers driving between the two cities, and ...

. It was released on September 4, 2009. The film is

autobiographical An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

about the youth years of the director as told by him during the film.

Synopsis

In 1981, 11 year-old Ricardo (Jean-Carl Boucher) and his family arrives to their new home. Having no friends, Ricardo spends his time in a magazine and ask his parents money. During school, his teacher notices his bad calligraphy and assigns him to Anne Tremblay (Elizabeth Adam) to improve his writing; he falls immediately in love with the classmate. Their arrival, however, falls into trouble when the father loses his job and the sister's cat, Caramel, goes missing. At school, Ricardo tries to gain a reputation after discovering a

walkman Walkman, stylised as , is a brand of portable audio players manufactured and marketed by Japanese technology company Sony since 1979. The original Walkman was a portable cassette player and its popularity made "walkman" an unofficial term for ...

in order to gain Anne's love. He then befriends the "Red K-Ways" after he lies to promising to give

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. K ...

magazines. During an important school event, Ricardo gives a poor presentation about an important item; Anne presents a marble her deceased cousin gave to her. To get closer to her, Ricardo steals her gift. After his many lies get suspected by the K-Ways, Ricardo tries to buy a walkman to gain a honest reputation; he encounters his father doing music in a local restaurant. An argument comes with his mother about money and his mother tells him to find a job to pay the things he wants. He then delivers newspapers. Later at home, his father tells Ricardo they have to sell the house. In the woods, a member of the K-Ways has a meltdown when his father goes to jail; they then revealed they all lied about different topics and they reconcile. Before leaving, Ricardo then decides to go to Anne's home and tells the truth and learns that Anne never had a deceased cousin and the marble was only decorative. Back at home, the family finds Caramel with babies as they depart.

Cast

Sequel

In August 2014, a sequel, ''

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

'', was released, reuniting Jean-Carl Boucher, Sandrine Bisson, Claudio Colangelo, and Rose Adam to play their roles as the Trogis. The sequel tells the story of Ricardo at 17 years old graduating from high school, trying to lose his virginity, open a club, and loads of other things. The film was released in December 2014 on DVD, Blu-Ray, and VHS (for a limited time) as a kind of retro thing. A third film in the series, ''

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

'', was released in 2018 with largely the same cast.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:1981 2009 films 2000s coming-of-age comedy-drama films 2000s French-language films Canadian coming-of-age comedy-drama films Films directed by Ricardo Trogi Films set in 1981 Works about Italian-Canadian culture French-language Canadian films Quebec films 2000s Canadian films