''Before the Time Comes'' (french: Le Temps de l'avant) is a Canadian drama film, directed by

Anne Claire Poirier Anne Claire Poirier O.C. (born 6 June 1932) is a Canadian film producer, director and screenwriter. Biography Poirier was born in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec. She was the only female filmmaker on the National Film Board of Canada in the 1960s and ...

and released in 1975.Charles-Henri Ramond
"Temps de l’avant, Le – Film de Anne Claire Poirier"
''Films du Québec'', April 27, 2009. The film stars

Luce Guilbeault Luce Guilbeault (5 March 1935 – 12 July 1991) was a Canadian actress and director from Quebec. She was one of the leading figures of Quebec repertory theatre of the 1960s and one of the most-sought actresses of Quebec cinema in the 1970s. She ...

as Hélène, a housewife and mother who is raising her three children largely on her own without much help from her itinerant sailor husband Gabriel (Pierre Gobeil); when she becomes pregnant for a fourth time, she struggles both with her conscience and the opinions of her husband and her sister Monique ( Paule Baillargeon) as she considers whether or not to have an

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...

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 Corp ...

, ''A Century of Canadian Cinema''. Lynx Images, 2003. . p. 23. It was the first Canadian film ever to address the subject of abortion. The film opened in Quebec theatres in 1975, and was subsequently screened in the

International Critics' Week The International Critics' Week (french: Semaine de la Critique) was founded in 1962 and is organized by the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics. It was created following the showing of '' The Connection'' directed by Shirley Clarke which had been ...

program at the

1976 Cannes Film Festival The 29th Cannes Film Festival was held from 13 to 28 May 1976. The Palme d'Or went to ''Taxi Driver'' by Martin Scorsese. In 1976, "L'Air du temps", a new section which was non-competitive and focused on contemporary subjects, was introduced. This ...

References

External links

* 1975 films 1975 drama films Canadian drama films Films directed by Anne Claire Poirier National Film Board of Canada films Films about abortion 1970s French-language films French-language Canadian films 1970s Canadian films {{1970s-Canada-film-stub