''Kamouraska'' is a 1973 French-Canadian film directed and written by Claude Jutra, based on the 1970 novel of the same name by

Anne Hébert Anne Hébert (pronounced in French) (August 1, 1916 – January 22, 2000), was a Canadian author and poet. She won Canada's top literary honor, the Governor General's Award, three times, twice for fiction and once for poetry. Early life Héb ...

. At the time of its release it was the most expensive film ever made in Canadian history. It won four

Canadian Film Awards The Canadian Film Awards were the leading Canadian cinema awards from 1949 until 1978. These honours were conducted annually, except in 1974 when a number of Quebec directors withdrew their participation and prompted a cancellation. In the 1970s ...

, but was unsuccessful at the box office.

Plot

The film is set in rural

Québec 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 thirteen p ...

in the 1830s. Élisabeth at the deathbed of her second husband, Jérôme Rolland, is recounting her past, which is conveyed through a series of flashbacks. She was first married to Antoine, the brutish ''seigneur'' of Kamouraska, and fell in love with a

Loyalist Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cro ...

American doctor, Georges Nelson. He murdered Antoine. At her trial for complicity in the killing, Élisabeth is acquitted. She marries Jérôme to save her honour.

Cast

* Geneviève Bujold as Élisabeth d'Aulnières *

Richard Jordan Robert Anson Jordan Jr. (July 19, 1937 – August 30, 1993) was an American actor. A long-time member of the New York Shakespeare Festival, he performed in many Off Broadway and Broadway plays. His films include ''Logan's Run'', ''Les Miséra ...

as Georges Nelson *

Philippe Léotard Philippe Léotard (his full name was Ange Philippe Paul André Léotard-Tomasi; 28 August 1940 – 25 August 2001) was a French actor, poet and singer. Biography He was born in Nice, one of seven children - four girls, then three boys, of wh ...

as Antoine Tassy *

Marcel Cuvelier Marcel may refer to: People * Marcel (given name), people with the given name Marcel * Marcel (footballer, born August 1981), Marcel Silva Andrade, Brazilian midfielder * Marcel (footballer, born November 1981), Marcel Augusto Ortolan, Brazilian s ...

as Jérôme Rolland *

Huguette Oligny Huguette Oligny, (January 31, 1922 - May 9, 2013) was a Canadian actress active in theatre, film and television. Born in Montreal, Quebec, to a French-Canadian father and French mother, she began her theatrical career in 1939. Though mostly kn ...

as the mother of Élisabeth * Camille Bernard as the mother of Antoine * Janine Sutto as Tante * Olivette Thibault as Tante * Marie Fresnières as Tante * Suzie Baillargeon as Aurélie * Colette Cortois as Florida * Gigi Duckett as Anne-Marie * Marcel Marineau as Greffier, médecin *Len Watt as Le gouverneur

Production

The film based on

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

was directed and written by Claude Jutra and

Michel Brault Michel Brault, OQ (25 June 1928 – 21 September 2013) was a Canadian cinematographer, cameraman, film director, screenwriter, and film producer. He was a leading figure of Direct Cinema, characteristic of the French branch of the National ...

was the directory of cinematography. The French-Canadian co-production was shot from 1–29 March and 26 April to 30 June 1972. Three hours and forty minutes worth of footage was shot for the film. The film had a budget of $750,000, but cost $905,000 () to make. 75% of the funding came from Canada and 25% came from France. It was the most expensive film made in Canada at that point.

Release

The film was previewed in

Kamouraska, Quebec Kamouraska is a municipality on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region of Quebec, Canada. It is part of the Regional County Municipality of Kamouraska. It has been named one of the top 20 most beautiful vill ...

, and premiered at Théâtre Saint-Denis in Montreal on 29 March 1973. It was distributed by France Film in Quebec and

New Line Cinema New Line Cinema is an American film production studio owned by Warner Bros. Discovery and is a film label of Warner Bros. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye as an independent film distribution company; later becoming a film studio after ...

in Europe. ''

The Death of a Lumberjack ''The Death of a Lumberjack'' (french: La Mort d'un bûcheron) is a 1973 Canadian drama film directed by Gilles Carle. The film was entered into the 1973 Cannes Film Festival. Plot A young woman ( Carole Laure) from rural Quebec comes to Montr ...

'' was selected over ''Kamouraska'' as Canada's submission to the

1973 Cannes Film Festival The 26th Cannes Film Festival was held from 10 to 25 May 1973. The Grand Prix du Festival International du Film went to ''Scarecrow'' by Jerry Schatzberg and ''The Hireling'' by Alan Bridges. At this festival two new non-competitive sections were ...

, but was shown at Cannes through a special screening by the French Association of Film Critics. It was the first time the organization held a special screening since its showing of ''

Hiroshima mon amour ''Hiroshima mon amour'' (, lit. , ), is a 1959 romantic drama film directed by French director Alain Resnais and written by French author Marguerite Duras. Resnais' first feature-length work, it was a co-production between France and Japan, and ...

'' in 1959. The television rights to the film were sold to the

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the governme ...

for $100,000, the highest amount for a Canadian film at that time. It was shown by the CBC on 6 September 1980. The theatrical version of the film was 124 minutes while the 1983 television version was 173 minutes.

Reception

The film was unsuccessful at the box office. The film was poorly reviewed by critics. Henry Herx gave it a mixed review in his ''Family Guide to Movies on Video'': " e movie captures a vanished era, has excellent acting and the beauty of its settings but its story of hot passion in a cold climate is heavily melodramatic."

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who served as the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death i ...

, writing in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', stated that the actors were not "able to give emotional urgency to material that depends so heavily on our believing in these characters and sharing their sense of sin and guilt". The film won multiple awards at the

, but Geneviève Bujold was the only person from Quebec to accept an award.

Accolades

References

Works cited

* * * *

External links

* * 1973 films Canadian drama films Films directed by Claude Jutra Films set in Quebec Films shot in Quebec Films based on Canadian novels Films set in the 1830s 1970s French-language films 1970s English-language films 1970s Canadian films {{1970s-Canada-film-stub