''The Canadiens, Forever'' (french: Pour toujours, les Canadiens!) is a 2009

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 ...

long-feature film, about the

Montreal Canadiens centennial The Montreal Canadiens centennial was celebrated by the Montreal Canadiens ice hockey team during its 2008–09 and 2009–10 seasons, commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the founding of the National Hockey League's most successful club. The 2 ...

celebrations written by

Jacques Savoie Ancient and noble French family names, Jacques, Jacq, or James are believed to originate from the Middle Ages in the historic northwest Brittany region in France, and have since spread around the world over the centuries. To date, there are over ...

and directed by

Sylvain Archambault Sylvain Archambault (born March 6, 1963) is a Canadian film and television director from Quebec. He is most noted as director of the feature film '' Piché: The Landing of a Man (Piché, entre ciel et terre)'', which was the winner of the Billet d' ...

. The film was launched in theaters on 4 December 2009, the anniversary day of establishment of the

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

enterprise.

Synopsis

At 17, William Lanctôt-Couture (played by Dhanaé Audet-Beaulieu), an

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

star player passes through rough times and a depression prior to

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

. He is unmotivated and lacks purpose and his coach criticizes him for his lack of team spirit. Meanwhile, the troubled player's father Benoît (Christian Bégin) is preoccupied with completing a documentary film about the Montreal Canadiens to the detriment of his family obligations and to the detriment of his player son. His mother Michelle (Céline Bonnier), a nurse, is deeply affected by one of her young patients, Daniel Delage (Antoine L'Écuyer) who at just 10 is awaiting a kidney transplant. William befriends Daniel, a huge ice hockey and Canadiens fan and most of the team is showing up at the hospital to meet Daniel..

Cast

* Dhanaé Audet-Beaulieu : William Lanctôt-Couture *

Antoine L'Écuyer Antoine L'Écuyer (born March 26, 1997 in Montreal, Quebec) is a French Canadian actor known for his lead role of Léon Doré in ''It's Not Me, I Swear! (C'est pas moi, je le jure!)'' for which he won the Best Actor Award at the Atlantic Film Fest ...

: Daniel Delage *

Céline Bonnier Céline Bonnier (; born August 31, 1965) is a French Canadian actress from Quebec. She has been nominated for four awards including Genie Awards and Gemini Awards. Filmography * 1992: ''Tectonic Plates'' * 1994: ''The Wind from Wyoming (Le V ...

: Michelle Lanctôt-Couture (William's mother) *

Christian Bégin Christian Bégin (born March 16, 1963 in Montreal, Quebec) is a Canadians, Canadian actor, who won the Prix Iris for Prix Iris for Best Actor, Best Actor at the 20th Quebec Cinema Awards in 2018 for his performance in ''Infiltration (2017 film), ...

: Benoît Lanctôt-Couture (William's father) *

Jean Lapointe Jean Lapointe, (December 6, 1935 – November 18, 2022) was a Canadian actor, comedian and singer as well as a Senate of Canada, Canadian Senator. Lapointe began his stage career as part of the duo ''Les Jérolas'' with Jérôme Lemay, perf ...

Ice resurfacer An ice resurfacer is a vehicle or hand-pushed device used to clean and smooth the surface of a sheet of ice, usually in an ice rink. The first ice resurfacer was developed by American inventor and engineer Frank Zamboni in 1949 in the city of Pa ...

at the

Bell Centre Bell Centre (), formerly known as Molson Centre (), is a multi-purpose arena located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Opened on March 16, 1996, it is the home arena of the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL), replacing the Montr ...

* Denis Bernard : Doctor *

Claude Legault Claude Legault (born May 26, 1963) is a Canadian actor and television writer from Quebec. Biography Legault was a star (2000-2003) of the Ligue Nationale d'Improvisation and has since appeared regularly on television, stage and film. He was part ...

* Stéphane Jacques *

Réal Bossé Réal Bossé is a Canadian actor from Quebec who performs mostly in francophone films and television. The son of farmers, Bossé grew up in Rivière-Bleue, Quebec. He won a Jutra Award in 2008 as Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting ...

* Émilien Néron *

Doug Jarvis Douglas McArthur Jarvis (born March 24, 1955) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey forward who played for the Montreal Canadiens, Washington Capitals and Hartford Whalers in the National Hockey League. He was a four-time Stanley Cup win ...

: Himself *

Jean Béliveau Joseph Jean Arthur Béliveau (August 31, 1931 – December 2, 2014) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who played parts of 20 seasons with the National Hockey League's (NHL) Montreal Canadiens from 1950 to 1971. Inducted into the Ho ...

: Himself *

Roland Melanson Roland "Rollie the Goalie" Joseph Melanson (born June 28, 1960) is a Canadian ice hockey coach and former goaltender in the National Hockey League (NHL). He most recently served as the goaltending coach for the New Jersey Devils, previously servin ...

: Himself *

Kirk Muller Kirk Christopher Muller (born February 8, 1966) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey winger who played in the National Hockey League for 19 seasons from 1984–85 until 2002–03. He was also the head coach of the National Hockey League ...

: Himself *

Guy Carbonneau Joseph Harry Guy Carbonneau (born March 18, 1960) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player, coach and executive in the National Hockey League. He was also the president of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League Chicoutimi Saguenéens ...

: Himself *

players of 2008-2009 season: Themselves

Launching

The film was shown as a pre-premiere on 16 November 2009, at

, home of the Canadiens. The film was launched on 4 December 2009 on the centenary of the franchise in 100 theatres throughout Quebec.RDS: Le Canadien sur grand écran

References

External links

''Pour toujours, les Canadiens!'' Official site
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Canadiens Forever, The Films shot in Montreal 2000s French-language films Montreal Canadiens Quebec films 2009 films Canadian ice hockey films French-language Canadian films 2000s Canadian films