''Nô'' is a 1998 Canadian film by director

Robert Lepage Robert Lepage (born December 12, 1957) is a Canadian playwright, actor, film director, and stage director. Early life Lepage was raised in Quebec City. At age five, he was diagnosed with a rare form of alopecia, which caused complete hair lo ...

. It was based on one segment in Lepage's play ''Seven Streams of the River Ota''.Monk, Katherine (2001). ''Weird sex & snowshoes and other Canadian film phenomena'' (Vancouver: Rainforest Books), p. 322. The title is a

pun A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophoni ...

which reflects the film's

dramatic structure Dramatic structure (also known as dramaturgical structure) is the structure of a dramatic work such as a book, play, or film. There are different kinds of dramatic structures worldwide which have been hypothesized by critics, writers and scholar ...

, linking the

1980 Quebec referendum The 1980 Quebec independence referendum was the first referendum in Quebec on the place of Quebec within Canada and whether Quebec should pursue a path toward sovereignty. The referendum was called by Quebec's Parti Québécois (PQ) government, whi ...

(in which the "no" won) to Japanese

Nō is a major form of classical Japanese dance-drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Developed by Kan'ami and his son Zeami, it is the oldest major theatre art that is still regularly performed today. Although the terms Noh and ' ...

theatre.

Plot

The film is set in 1970 at the height of the FLQ bombings in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, known as the

October Crisis The October Crisis (french: Crise d'Octobre) refers to a chain of events that started in October 1970 when members of the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) kidnapped the provincial Labour Minister Pierre Laporte and British diplomat James C ...

. During the Crisis, Prime Minister

Pierre Elliot Trudeau Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau ( , ; October 18, 1919 – September 28, 2000), also referred to by his initials PET, was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 15th prime minister of Canada from 1968 to 1979 and ...

instituted the

War Measures Act The ''War Measures Act'' (french: Loi sur les mesures de guerre; 5 George V, Chap. 2) was a statute of the Parliament of Canada that provided for the declaration of war, invasion, or insurrection, and the types of emergency measures that could t ...

, which resulted in martial law on the streets of Montreal. The central character, Sophie (

Anne-Marie Cadieux Anne-Marie Cadieux (born September 23, 1963) is a Canadian actress, film director and screenwriter. She has won a Jutra Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in '' Streetheart (Le Cœur au poing)'' and in 2008 was nominated for a Genie Aw ...

), is an actress working in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

(Japan) at

Expo '70 The or Expo 70 was a world's fair held in Suita, Osaka Prefecture, Japan between March 15 and September 13, 1970. Its theme was "Progress and Harmony for Mankind." In Japanese, Expo '70 is often referred to as . It was the first world's fair ...

, while her boyfriend, Michel ( Alexis Martin), is an FLQ sympathizer. Sophie discovers that she is pregnant and phones Michel, but before she can tell him, two FLQ friends suddenly turn up at his apartment looking for a place to hide, and Michel has to hang up. Sophie, who is unaware of the crises happening in Montreal, is upset by Michel apparently not wanting to talk to her, and isn't even sure if he is the father. She has to decide whether to stay and get an abortion in Japan, where abortion is legal, or keep the baby and return to Montreal the next day as planned. Meanwhile, she has to avoid the advances of fellow actor François-Xavier (Éric Bernier) and survive a dinner with Canadian ambassador Walter (Richard Fréchette) and his difficult wife Patricia (

Marie Gignac Marie Gignac is a two-time Genie Award–nominated actress. Gignac has been nominated twice in the category of Best Supporting Actress each for '' The Confessional (Le Confessionnal)'' and ''The Secret Life of Happy People (La Vie secrète des ge ...

). Sophie's interpreter friend Hanako (

Marie Brassard Marie Brassard is a Canadian actress,Histoire du théâtre au Canada'. Graduate Centre for Study of Drama, University of Toronto; 1990. p. 158. theatrical writer and director. She is known for her work with playwright and actor Robert LepageNew Yo ...

), a Japanese woman blinded by the

atomic bomb A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb ...

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui h ...

, is preparing to move to

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) with her Canadian interpreter boyfriend. In the meantime, in Montreal, Michel's two friends are plotting to set off a bomb, but they end up blowing up Michel's apartment by mistake.

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * Monk, Katherine (2001). ''Weird sex & snowshoes and other Canadian film phenomena'' (Vancouver: Rainforest Books) * Evangelista, Matthew (2011). Gender, Nationalism, and War : Conflict on the Movie Screen. New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 203–252.

External links

* 1998 films Canadian drama films Films shot in Montreal Films set in Montreal October Crisis Films set in 1970 Films directed by Robert Lepage 1998 drama films French-language Canadian films 1990s Canadian films {{1990s-drama-film-stub