''Kamouraska'' is a 1973 French-Canadian film directed and written by

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

, 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 Hébe ...

. 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 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 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 Geneviève Bujold (; born July 1, 1942) is a Canadian actress. For her portrayal of Anne Boleyn in the period drama film ''Anne of the Thousand Days'' (1969), Bujold received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Her other film cre ...

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 Misér ...

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 whi ...

as Antoine Tassy * Marcel Cuvelier as Jérôme Rolland * Huguette Oligny as the mother of Élisabeth *

Camille Bernard Camille Bernard (February 25, 1898 – July 16, 1984) was a Canadian opera singer, actress and music educator from Quebec.Janine Sutto Janine Sutto, (20 April 1921 – 28 March 2017) was a French-born Canadian actress and comedian. Career Born in Paris to Léopold Sutto and Renée Mamert, she emigrated to Canada in 1930, with her family settling in Montreal. At age 14, Sutt ...

as Tante *

Olivette Thibault Olivette Thibault (November 13, 1914 – December 17, 1995) was a Canadian stage, film and television actress from Quebec.Marie Fresnières as Tante *

Suzie Baillargeon Suzie or Susie is a feminine given name, and is a short form (hypocorism) of Suzanne (given name), Suzanne, Susannah (given name), Susannah or Susan (given name), Susan. Notable people with this given name include: People * Suzannah Suzie Bates ( ...

as Aurélie *

Colette Cortois Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (; 28 January 1873 – 3 August 1954), known mononymously as Colette, was a French author and woman of letters. She was also a mime, actress, and journalist. Colette is best known in the English-speaking world for her ...

as Florida *

Gigi Duckett Gigi may refer to: Colette novella-related * ''Gigi'' (novella), a 1944 novella by the French writer Colette ** ''Gigi'' (1949 film), a French adaptation of the novella by Jacqueline Audry ** ''Gigi'' (1958 film), an American musical by Vince ...

as Anne-Marie *

Marcel Marineau 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 Greffier, médecin *Len Watt as Le gouverneur

Production

The film based on

's novel was directed and written by

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

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 Na ...

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 villa ...

, and premiered at

Théâtre Saint-Denis Théâtre Saint-Denis is a theatre located on Saint Denis Street in Montreal, Quebec, in the city's Quartier Latin. A movie theatre built in 1915 by Anglin-Norcross Ltd., the Théâtre Saint-Denis' mission changed in the 1980s and has since focu ...

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 Montre ...

'' was selected over ''Kamouraska'' as Canada's submission to the 1973 Cannes Film Festival, 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, an ...

'' 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 government. ...

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 in ...

, 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 d ...

'', 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

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