''The Company of Strangers'' (US release title: ''Strangers in Good Company''; French title: ''Le Fabuleux gang des sept'') is a Canadian film, released in 1990. It was directed by

Cynthia Scott Cynthia Scott (born January 1, 1939) is a Canadian award-winning filmmaker who has produced, directed, written, and edited several films with the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). Her works have won the Oscar and Canadian Film Award. Scott i ...

and was written by Scott, Sally Bochner, David Wilson and Gloria Demers. The film depicts eight women on a bus tour, who are stranded at an isolated cottage when the bus breaks down. Created in a genre defined as

docufiction Docufiction (or docu-fiction) is the cinematographic combination of documentary and fiction, this term often meaning narrative film. It is a film genre which attempts to capture reality such as it is (as direct cinema or cinéma vérité) and ...

, semi-documentary/semi-fiction, the film is not tightly scripted. The writers wrote a basic story outline but allowed the eight women to improvise their dialogue. Each of the women, all but one of whom were

senior citizen Old age refers to ages nearing or surpassing the life expectancy of human beings, and is thus the end of the human life cycle. Terms and euphemisms for people at this age include old people, the elderly (worldwide usage), OAPs (British usage ...

s, told stories from her own life. A major theme of the film is how the elderly women each face aging and mortality in their own way, and find the courage together to persevere. At various points throughout the film, a montage of photos from each woman's life is shown.

Cast

* Alice Diabo as Alice, 74, a

Mohawk Mohawk may refer to: Related to Native Americans *Mohawk people, an indigenous people of North America (Canada and New York) *Mohawk language, the language spoken by the Mohawk people *Mohawk hairstyle, from a hairstyle once thought to have been t ...

elder from

Kahnawake, Quebec The Kahnawake Mohawk people, Mohawk Territory (french: Territoire Mohawk de Kahnawake, in the Mohawk language, ''Kahnawáˀkye'' in Tuscarora language, Tuscarora) is a First Nations in Canada, First Nations reserve of the Mohawks of Kahnawá:ke ...

, * Constance Garneau as Constance, 88, born in the United States and brought to Quebec by her family as a child, * Winifred Holden as Winnie, 76, an Englishwoman who moved to Montreal after World War II, * Cissy Meddings as Cissy, 76, who was born in England and moved to Canada in 1981, *

Mary Meigs Mary Meigs (April 27, 1917 – November 15, 2002) was an American-born painter and writer. Early life Meigs was born in Philadelphia, the daughter of Edward Browning Meigs and Margaret Wister Meigs, and grew up in Washington, D.C. Her great ...

as Mary, 74, a noted

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

writer and painter and out

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

, * Catherine Roche as Catherine, 68, a Roman Catholic nun, *

Michelle Sweeney Michelle Sweeney is a Canadian actress and soul singer. Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, she moved to Montreal, Quebec in the 1980s to perform with the Montreal Jubilation Gospel Choir, and has remained based in Montreal since. In addition to pe ...

as Michelle, 27, a

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

singer and the bus trip's tour guide, * Beth Webber as Beth, 80, who was born in England and moved to Montreal in 1930.

Release

Home media

The

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 kind ...

was released on December 7, 1999, by

First Run Features First Run Features is an independent film distribution company based in New York City. History First Run was founded in 1979 by a group of filmmakers in order to advance the distribution of independent film. In the 1980s, the company focused ...

as ''Strangers in Good Company''. The back of the DVD cover states: "The original Canadian title, "The Company of Strangers" is on the DVD. In every other way it is the exact same film."

Reception

Accolades

The film won the Best Canadian Film award at the

Vancouver International Film Festival The Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) is an annual film festival held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, for two weeks in late September and early October. The festival is operated by the Greater Vancouver International Film Fest ...

and the Grand Prize and Interfilm awards at the Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival in 1990. At the 12th Genie Awards in 1991, Diabo and Meddings were nominated for Best Actress, Holden and Roche were nominated for Best Supporting Actress, and the film was nominated for Best Picture. The film won the Genie Award for Best Film Editing.

Popularity

Mary Meigs wrote a book about her experience in making the film, ''In the Company of Strangers'' (1991).

References

External links

*
''The Company of Strangers''
at

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...

''The Company of Strangers''
at Canadian Women Film Directors Database

at

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Company of Strangers, The 1990 films 1990 documentary films 1990 LGBT-related films Quebec films Canadian docufiction films Canadian LGBT-related films Canadian road movies Documentary films about women Documentary films about old age Films about buses Lesbian-related films National Film Board of Canada films 1990s female buddy films Canadian independent films 1990 independent films 1990s English-language films 1990s Canadian films