''A Pacemaker and a Sidecar'' (french: L'Eau chaude, l'eau frette, lit. "Hot Water, Cold Water") is a Canadian

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...

film, directed by

André Forcier André Forcier (born Marc-André Forcier on July 19, 1947) is a Canadian film director and screenwriter. His work has been linked to Latin American magic realism by its use of fantasy but is firmly rooted in Quebec's reality. His unromanticized, e ...

and released in 1976.

Gerald Pratley Gerald Arthur Pratley (September 3, 1923 – March 14, 2011) was a Canadian film critic and historian. Piers Handling"Gerald Arthur Pratley" ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'', September 18, 2011. A longtime film critic for the Canadian Broadcasting Cor ...

, ''A Century of Canadian Cinema''. Lynx Images, 2003. . p. 164. The film centres on a group of residents of a

rooming house A rooming house, also called a "multi-tenant house", is a "dwelling with multiple rooms rented out individually", in which the tenants share kitchen and often bathroom facilities. Rooming houses are often used as housing for low-income people, as ...

in a working class neighbourhood in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, who have gathered for the birthday party of their landlord Polo (

Jean Lapointe Jean Lapointe, (December 6, 1935 – November 18, 2022) was a Canadian actor, comedian and singer as well as a Senate of Canada, Canadian Senator. Lapointe began his stage career as part of the duo ''Les Jérolas'' with Jérôme Lemay, perf ...

), a local crime boss and loan shark. The guests at the party include Amédée (Albert Payette) and Panama (

Guy L'Écuyer Guy L'Écuyer (July 26, 1931 - September 20, 1985) was a Canadian actor from Montreal, Quebec. He was most noted for his performance in André Forcier's 1983 film ''Au clair de la lune'', for which he received a Genie Award nomination for Best Act ...

), a

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

couple who cater the party, and Carmen (Sophie Clément), a woman who owes Polo money for her daughter Francine's (Louise Gagnon)

pacemaker An artificial cardiac pacemaker (or artificial pacemaker, so as not to be confused with the natural cardiac pacemaker) or pacemaker is a medical device that generates electrical impulses delivered by electrodes to the chambers of the heart eith ...

and decides to pay the debt off with sex. Meanwhile, Francine and her boyfriend Ti-Guy (Réjean Audet), who both dislike Polo, hatch a plot to kill him which backfires when another guest at the party dies instead.

Distribution

The film premiered in the Directors' Fortnight program at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival,Maxime Demers
"La deuxième vie de L’eau chaude l’eau frette"
''

Le Journal de Montréal ''Le Journal de Montréal'' is a daily French-language tabloid newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Quebec and is also the largest French-language daily newspaper in North America. ...

'', April 25, 2020. and was later screened at the 1976 Festival of Festivals.Robert Martin, "Toronto festival gets Forcier film". ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'', September 24, 1976. Its screening at Toronto sparked a dispute between the festival and the national Film Festivals Bureau, with festival organizers claiming that they had been denied a screening on the grounds that the festival was too new and unimportant, while the Festivals Bureau claimed that it was simply a scheduling conflict, as the film's sole English print had already been booked by the

Chicago International Film Festival The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964 by Michael Kutza, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America. Its logo is a stark, black and white close up of the comp ...

, which was running at the same time as Toronto's festival. A compromise was reached whereby the print was shipped to Toronto for a screening in the early part of the festival, so that it could then be sent back to Chicago in time for that festival's scheduled screening. Due to a technical issue with the film's original print, which was not noticed by theatrical audiences but became visible only when the film was transferred to higher-definition digital formats, it remained unavailable for many years on DVD or streaming platforms. A full digital restoration of the film was released to streaming platforms in April 2020."«L'eau chaude l'eau frette» restauré disponible sur diverses plateformes"
''

'', April 9, 2020.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pacemaker and a Sidecar 1976 films 1976 comedy films Canadian black comedy films Canadian crime comedy films Canadian LGBT-related films 1970s French-language films Films directed by André Forcier Films set in Montreal Films shot in Montreal 1975 LGBT-related films 1975 films LGBT-related black comedy films French-language Canadian films 1970s Canadian films