''By Design'' is a 1982 Canadian

comedy-drama film 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 ...

directed by

Claude Jutra Claude Jutra (; March 11, 1930 – November 5, 1986) was a Canadian actor, film director, and screenwriter.

and starring

Sara Botsford Sara Botsford (born August 4, 1951) is a Canadian television and film actress. She starred in the CTV drama series '' E.N.G.'' (1989-1994) for which received Canadian Screen Award for Best Actress in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role. Career S ...

and

Patty Duke Anna Marie "Patty" Duke (December 14, 1946 – March 29, 2016) was an American actress and mental health advocate. Over the course of her acting career, she was the recipient of an Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, three Primetime Emmy Aw ...

."Jutra's contentious By Design a fight that fails". ''

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 ...

'', August 23, 1982. The film was produced by B.D.F. Productions,

Canadian Film Development Corporation Telefilm Canada is a Crown corporation reporting to Canada's federal government through the Minister of Canadian Heritage. Headquartered in Montreal, Telefilm provides services to the Canadian audiovisual industry with four regional offices in ...

(CFDC), Fox Productions, and Seven Arts.

Synopsis

Angie and Helen are in love and they live and work together - they design women's clothes and run their own fashion business in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

. Helen wants to be a mother. Angie loves Helen and if Helen can't feel fulfilled without a child she is willing for them to become parents. When Helen announces she wants to have a child, Angie reluctantly agrees to support her. The only obstacle seems to be the physical factor, at first, an idea of artificial insemination came to their mind. However, "They then quickly reject the idea of artificial insemination when they see an unkempt drunk emerging from the cubicle where he has donated sperm for beer money." "Denied permission to adopt, and rejecting artificial insemination, the couple set their sights on sleazy photographer, Terry, as a potential one-night stand for Helen." At the end of the film, Angie gives birth to a girl, while Suzie and Terry move to Los Angeles to promote their new design.

Cast

Development

While Jutra was directing this movie, he received an offer by Beryl Fox to direct the movie Surfacing. Initially rejected this offer, he changed his mind until "Fox agreed to produce By Design as well. Although a script existed before Jutra became involved with the project, he was able to rewrite it thoroughly in collaboration with playwright Joe Wiesenfeld."

Reception

The film was favourably reviewed by the critic

Pauline Kael Pauline Kael (; June 19, 1919 – September 3, 2001) was an American film critic who wrote for ''The New Yorker'' magazine from 1968 to 1991. Known for her "witty, biting, highly opinionated and sharply focused" reviews, Kael's opinions oft ...

in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' : " a buoyant, quirky sex comedy..the director takes a look around the whole modern supermarket of sex. ''By Design'' takes in the bars and beach houses, fast food restaurants and discos, and the sexual patterns of those who inhabit them..Jutra has a light understated approach to farce. His sensibility suggests a mingling of Tati and Truffaut. The scenes are quick and they're dippy, but with a pensive, melancholy underlay."Pauline Kael reprinted in ''

Taking It All In ''Taking It All In'' is the seventh collection of movie reviews by the critic Pauline Kael and contains the 150 film reviews she wrote for ''The New Yorker'' between June 9, 1980, and June 13, 1983. She writes in the Author's Note at the beginning ...

'' p.421-424 Philip Szporer of The

Cinema Canada ''Cinema Canada'' (1972–1989) is a defunct Canadian film magazine, which served as the trade journal of record for the Canadian film and television sector. The magazine had its origins in the Canadian Society of Cinematographers (CSC), which b ...

journal published a film review in January 1983, stated that the film by design cannot be appreciated as a whole due to lack of vibrancy and clarity. "It never picks up a stride, and its ambivalence in direction, where Jutra wants it to go, is the film's most serious problem." Such problem could be found in the details of the movie, like "the punk titles and raucous soundtrack of the opening do not mix with a later scene in which the camera moves aimlessly in the darkness, finally entering a cabin bathed in golden light, where the two lovers talk about conceiving a baby." That rapid shift in mood and distinct contrast in scenes made this film less coherent and indistinct. According to Szporer, "Any intelligent development in the storyline is often overrun by an insensitive scene which follows, or the introduction of a character who appears for one brief scene, never to be seen on screen again. It is impossible to discernt the filmmaker's intent - as if Jutra himself was unsure of what he wanted to fashion with this film. Nor does he seem to recognize his own uncertainty of vision." The film mainly portrayed the story of two women fashion designer lover. while they were working, the shots of the fashion models and they walk down the runway were inevitable appeared in this movie. However, behind these shots, a belief is formulated and conveyed to the audience that these women have no feelings; and "reinforced in that even the designers' creations which the models are exhibiting have no flair, no meaning." Even though the words of this film were banal, scenes contained certain vulgar, and lack of good pacing. But at the end of the journal, Szporer concluded that "If the film was to have been a bold, inventive, humorous and touching tale, it is instead a completely forgettable experience. Lacking a coherent structure and tone, the film only serves up a mish-mash of moral overtones and misgivings."

Awards

All four of the film's stars received

Genie Award The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978; also known as the "Etrog Awards," for scu ...

nominations at the 4th Genie Awards: Rubinek as Best Actor, Botsford as

Best Actress Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress aw ...

, Coulter as Best Supporting Actress and Astin as Foreign Actress.

References

External links

* {{Claude Jutra 1982 films 1982 comedy-drama films Atlantic Entertainment Group films Canadian comedy-drama films Canadian LGBT-related films English-language Canadian films 1980s English-language films Films directed by Claude Jutra Films scored by Chico Hamilton Films set in Vancouver Films shot in Vancouver Lesbian-related films 1982 comedy films 1982 drama films 1982 LGBT-related films LGBT-related comedy-drama films 1980s Canadian films