''Equinox'' (french: Équinoxe) is a Canadian drama film, directed by

Arthur Lamothe Arthur Lamothe, (December 7, 1928 – September 18, 2013) was a French-Canadian film director and film producer. Biography Born in Saint-Mont, France, Lamothe immigrated to Canada in 1953 and immediately got a job as a lumberjack in the Abitib ...

and released in 1986.Bruce Bailey, "Equinoxe crosses line into the unbelievable". ''

Montreal Gazette The ''Montreal Gazette'', formerly titled ''The Gazette'', is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Three other daily English-language newspapers shuttered at various times during the second half of th ...

'', August 26, 1986. Lamothe's first narrative feature film in 18 years after having concentrated exclusively on documentary films since 1968's '' Dust from Underground (Poussière sur la ville)'', the film stars

Jacques Godin Jacques Godin (; 14 September 1930 – 26 October 2020) was a Canadian film, television and stage actor. He was born in Montreal, Quebec. Career He won the Canadian Film Award for Best Actor at the 25th Canadian Film Awards in 1973 for his role ...

as Guillaume, a man returning to his hometown for the first time since being

wrongfully convicted A miscarriage of justice occurs when a grossly unfair outcome occurs in a criminal or civil proceeding, such as the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime they did not commit. Miscarriages are also known as wrongful convictions. Inno ...

of a crime he did not commit, in order to confront the former friend whose false testimony resulted in Guillaume being sent to prison.José Arroyo, "Arthur Lamothe's Equinoxe". ''

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 ...

'', December 1986. p. 25. The cast also includes Marthe Mercure,

André Melançon André Melançon (February 18, 1942 - August 23, 2016) was a Canadian actor, screenwriter and film director, best known for directing and writing several installments in the Tales for All series of children's films. Career The versatile André M ...

, Ariane Frédérique,

Marcel Sabourin Marcel Sabourin, OC (born March 25, 1935) is a Canadian actor and writer from Quebec.Gaetan Charlebois and Anne Nothof"Sabourin, Marcel" ''Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia'', October 20, 2015. He is most noted for his role as Abel Gagné, the centra ...

, Luc Proulx and Gaston Lepage. The film was shot in the rural Îles de Sorel near

Sorel-Tracy Sorel-Tracy (; ) is a city in southwestern Quebec, Canada and the geographical end point of the Champlain Valley. It is located at the confluence of the Richelieu River and the St. Lawrence River, on the western edge of Lac Saint-Pierre, downstr ...

, Quebec, in 1985, and premiered at the 1986

Montreal World Film Festival The Montreal World Film Festival (WFF; french: le Festival des Films du Monde) was one of Canada's oldest international film festivals and the only competitive film festival in North America accredited by the FIAPF (although the Toronto Interna ...

Critical response

In his 2003 book ''A Century of Canadian Cinema'',

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 ...

called the film a triumph of cinematography over script.

, ''A Century of Canadian Cinema''. Lynx Images, 2003. . p. 70. For the ''

'', Bruce Bailey dismissed the film as "something of a cross between a Beachcombers episode and something from Walt Disney's Adventureland", concluding that it "has more depth than something made for TV. But only barely." José Arroyo of ''

'' reviewed the film more positively, writing that "the film works best as a psychological drama with Guillaume's journey of self-discovery as a focus...Lamothe's experience as a documentary filmmaker here serves him very well." He concluded that "Equinoxe could have used a tighter structure. But it is very well acted and beautifully shot. I find the image of a leonine Godin, paddling a canoe through marshes to come to a rendez-vous with his past, unforgettable. A film that has this much going for it deserves to be seen by more people."

Awards

The film received two Genie Award nominations at the

8th Genie Awards The 8th Annual Genie Awards were held on March 18, 1987 to honour Canadian films made the previous year.Greg Quill, "Decline rises to top Genie nominations". ''Toronto Star'', February 5, 1987. The awards were dominated by Denys Arcand's ''The De ...

in 1987, for Best Cinematography (

Guy Dufaux Guy Dufaux (; born July 18, 1943, in Lille, France) is a French-born Canadian cinematographer. The majority of his works have been in Canadian cinema; he immigrated to Canada in 1965 and became a Canadian citizen in 1971. He is also the father of ...

) and

Best Original Song This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

(

Gilles Vigneault Gilles Vigneault (; born 27 October 1928) is a Canadian poet, publisher, singer-songwriter, and Quebec nationalist and sovereigntist. Two of his songs are considered by many to be Quebec's unofficial anthems: " Mon pays" and " Gens du pays", ...

for "Les îles de l'enfance").Greg Quill, "Decline rises to top Genie nominations". ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and pa ...

'', February 5, 1987.

References

External links

* 1986 films 1986 drama films Canadian drama films Films directed by Arthur Lamothe Films shot in Quebec Films set in Quebec 1980s French-language films French-language Canadian films 1980s Canadian films {{1980s-Canada-film-stub