''French Immersion'', subtitled ''It's Trudeau's Fault'' in English and ''C'est la faute à Trudeau'' in French, is a 2011

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 ...

comedy film."French Immersion: A hilarious bilingual, bicultural sendup"
''

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 ...

'', November 7, 2011. The dialogue in this film is a mixture of both English and French. The film was the directorial debut of longtime film producer

Kevin Tierney Kevin Tierney (August 27, 1950 – May 12, 2018) was a Canadian film producer from Montreal who co-wrote and produced the most popular Canadian film of all time at the domestic box office, ''Bon Cop, Bad Cop'', for which he earned a Golden Re ...

, best known for his work on the comedy film ''

Bon Cop, Bad Cop ''Bon Cop, Bad Cop'' is a 2006 Canadian dark comedy-Thriller (genre), thriller buddy cop film about two police officers – one Ontarian and one Quebec, Québécois – who reluctantly join forces to solve a murder. The dialogue is a mixture of E ...

''. This story follows a group of

Anglophones Speakers of English are also known as Anglophones, and the countries where English is natively spoken by the majority of the population are termed the '' Anglosphere''. Over two billion people speak English , making English the largest languag ...

who come to a remote town in northern Quebec, in order to learn French. In an interview with Northernstars.ca, a website dedicated to Canadian film history, Tierney mentioned a potential sequel where instead of a French immersion course, the characters would be taking an English immersion one in

Regina, Saskatchewan Regina () is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, after Saskatoon, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 C ...

Synopsis

The film centres on several

anglophones Speakers of English are also known as Anglophones, and the countries where English is natively spoken by the majority of the population are termed the '' Anglosphere''. Over two billion people speak English , making English the largest languag ...

, mostly

Canadians 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 ...

but including one

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

, who travel to the small village of Saint-Isidore-du-Cœur-de-Jésus in the Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean region of

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 ...

for an intensive

French immersion French immersion is a form of bilingual education in which students who do not speak French as a first language will receive instruction in French. In most French-immersion schools, students will learn to speak French and learn most subjects s ...

course. The language students include Bobby "JFGay" Sexton (

Gavin Crawford Gavin Crawford (born 2 April 1971) is a Canadian comedian and actor, best known for ''The Gavin Crawford Show'' and ''This Hour Has 22 Minutes''. He currently hosts the panel show, '' Because News'', on CBC Radio One. Early life Crawford was b ...

), a federal Member of Parliament who aspires to become leader of his political party but is avoiding a debate against rival candidate Michael Pontifikator (

Colm Feore Colm Joseph Feore (; born August 22, 1958) is a Canadian actor. A 15-year veteran of the Stratford Festival, he is known for his Gemini-winning turn as Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in the CBC miniseries '' Trudeau'' (2002), his portrayal of G ...

) because of his poor French skills; Cathy (

Martha Burns Martha Burns (born 23 April 1957)"Martha Burns ret ...

), his

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...

bodyguard; Aretha Marley (

Oluniké Adeliyi Oluniké Adeliyi (born January 5, 1977) is a Canadian actress. She appeared in the 2010 horror film ''Saw 3D'' and starred as Leah Kerns in the television series '' Flashpoint''. Early life Adeliyi was born in Brampton, Ontario, of Jamaican-Nig ...

), a flight attendant who has taken the immersion course twice before but still cannot speak French, having learned only how to put on a French accent while speaking English; Colin MacGonagle (

Fred Ewanuick Fred Ewanuick ( /əˈwαnɪk/; born June 23, 1971) is a Canadian actor known for his roles in the television series ''Corner Gas'' as Hank Yarbo and as the title character in the CTV sitcom ''Dan for Mayor''. He was also a regular in a CTV anthol ...

), a divorced postal worker from

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

who enters a romance with French teacher Julie Tremblay (

Karine Vanasse Karine Vanasse (born 24 November 1983) is a French-Canadian actress, who had roles in the films '' Polytechnique'', '' Séraphin: Heart of Stone (Séraphin: un homme et son péché)'', ''Switch'' and '' Set Me Free (Emporte-moi)''. International ...

); and Jonathan Hornstein (

Jacob Tierney Jacob Daniel Tierney (born September 26, 1979) is a Canadian actor, director, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for playing Eric in ''Are You Afraid of the Dark?'' (1990–1992) and as the co-writer, director, and executive producer of ...

), a trainee chef from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

who wants to open a French restaurant. In Saint-Isidore, nearly all of the 2,000 residents have the surname Tremblay—the sole exceptions are Pierre-Émile Dagnais (

Yves Jacques Yves Jacques OC (born 10 May 1956) is a Canadian film, television and stage actor.Yves Jacques ...

), the strictest and most disciplinarian teacher at the French immersion school, and Kumar ( Ali Hassan), a chef from

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

who moved to the town because he'd been told the region was where all of Quebec's Indians were. The town's most powerful residents are Sylvie Tremblay (

Pascale Bussières Pascale Bussières (born June 27, 1968) is a French Canadian actress. Life and work Born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Pascale Bussières first attracted attention as a suicidal teenager in Micheline Lanctôt’s 1984 film '' Sonatine''; however ...

), the head of the French immersion school, and her father (

Robert Charlebois Robert Charlebois, OC, OQ (born June 25, 1944) is a Québecois author, composer, musician, performer and actor. Charlebois was born in Montreal, Quebec. Among his best known songs are ''Lindberg'' (the duo with Louise Forestier in particular) ...

), a corrupt federal

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

Cast

The casting for this film was done by Rosina Bucci. *

- Bobby Sexton *

- Sylvie Tremblay *

- Michael Pontifikator *

- Aretha Marley *

- Colin MacGonagle *

- Julie Tremblay *

Martha Burns Martha Burns (born 23 April 1957)"Martha Burns ret ...

- Cathy *

- Jonathan Hornstein *

Dorothée Berryman Dorothée Berryman (born April 28, 1948) is a Canadian actress and singer from Quebec. Career Berryman appeared on stage while she was still a student at Laval University. Active since 1971, she pursued a career in musical theatre and television ...

- Therese Tremblay *

Jean-Guy Bouchard Jean-Guy Bouchard is a Canadian actor from Quebec. He is most noted for his role as Tonio in the film ''Requiem for a Handsome Bastard (Requiem pour un beau sans-coeur)'', for which he received a Genie Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor at ...

- Euclide Tremblay 'Papa' *

- Senator Tremblay *

Yves Jacques Yves Jacques OC (born 10 May 1956) is a Canadian film, television and stage actor.Yves Jacques ...

- Pierre-Émile Dagnais

Release

The film premiered in

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

and

on October 11, 2011. It was later released 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 ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

on October 14, and in

Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

on October 28.

Home Media

''French Immersion'' was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

on January 24, 2012.

Reception

Critical response

On review aggregation website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, ''French Immersion'' has an approval rating of 40%, and an average rating of 4.8/10. One of the websites critic describes the film as "Funny in both official languages, ''French Immersion'' is the story of career-conscious English Canadians who flock to a small Quebec town to meet a Tremblay and learn French."

Accolades

On May 28, 2012, at the

Big Island Film Festival The Big Island Film Festival is a film festival held at the Mauna Lani Resort on the Kohala Coast on the Big Island of Hawaii. The festival, which has been held every May between 2006 and 2016, features short and feature films by independent filmma ...

, ''French Immersion'' won best feature film. On June 8, 2012, at the

Canadian Comedy Awards The Canadian Comedy Awards (CCA) is an annual ceremony that awards the Beaver for achievements in Canadian comedy in live performance, radio, film, television, and Internet media. The awards were founded and produced by Tim Progosh in 2000. The ...

, ''French Immersion'' was nominated for best film, Jefferson Lewis and

for best writing, Tierney for best direction, and

for best female performance.

won for best male performance.

Steven Page Steven Jay Page (born June 22, 1970) is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He was a founding member, lead singer, guitarist, and a primary songwriter of the music group Barenaked Ladies. Page left the band in Februar ...

's song " A Different Sort of Solitude" received a

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 ...

nomination for

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 ...

at the

32nd Genie Awards The 32nd Genie Awards ceremony was held on March 8, 2012 to honour films released in 2011.

in 2012.

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 1674692 2011 films Canadian comedy films Quebec films Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean in fiction Canadian multilingual films 2011 comedy films 2011 multilingual films French-language Canadian films 2010s English-language films 2010s Canadian films