''The Crime of Ovide Plouffe'' (french: Le Crime d'Ovide Plouffe), also known as ''Murder in the Family'' in its television run, is a Canadian film and television miniseries from

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 ...

. The project consisted of two parts: a two-hour theatrical film directed by

Denys Arcand Georges-Henri Denys Arcand (; born June 25, 1941) is a French Canadian film director, screenwriter and producer. His film ''The Barbarian Invasions'' won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film in 2004. His films have also been nominated three f ...

which was released to theatres in 1984, and a six-hour television miniseries which aired in 1986, with four hours directed by

Gilles Carle Gilles Carle, (July 31, 1928As fully funny, Carle had pleasure to always give himself one year less, and to let people think wrongly that he was born in 1929, "The Year of the Big World Crash": see on the Quebec French newspapers that many writer ...

leading into the Arcand film as the final two hours. The series was an adaptation of

Roger Lemelin Roger Lemelin, (April 7, 1919 – March 16, 1992) was a Quebec novelist, television writer and essayist. Biography Lemelin was born in Quebec City. From 1944 to 1952, he was a Canadian correspondent for the American magazines ''Time'' and ...

's 1982 novel, ''Le crime d'Ovide Plouffe'', a sequel to his influential 1948 novel ''Les Plouffe''. The original novel had been adapted by Carle as the 1981 film '' The Plouffe Family'', and many of the same actors from the 1981 film reprised their roles in ''The Crime''. The cast included

Gabriel Arcand Gabriel Arcand (born June 4, 1949) is a Canadian actor. He is the brother of film director Denys Arcand. After studying philosophy at McGill University, Arcand spent his formative professional years at La Criée in Marseilles, France, and later ...

, Anne Létourneau, Donald Pilon, Serge Dupire,

Dominique Michel Dominique Michel, OC, CQ (born ''Aimée Sylvestre''; September 24, 1932 in Sorel-Tracy, Quebec) is a Quebec comedian, actress, singer and artist. Biography She began her career in cabarets performing songs written by Raymond Lévesque and sub ...

Rémy Girard Rémy Girard (born August 10, 1950) is a Canadian actor and former television host from Montreal, Quebec. Acting career Girard played the role of Rémy, the main character, who is dying of terminal cancer, in the Canadian film ''The Barbarian In ...

Julien Poulin Julien Poulin (born April 20, 1946) is Canadian actor, film director, screenwriter and film producer. He has portrayed numerous roles in several popular Quebec films and series. Elvis Gratton films His most memorable role was Elvis Gratton in whi ...

, and

Pierre Curzi Pierre Curzi (born February 11, 1946 in Montreal, Quebec) is an actor, screenwriter and politician in Quebec. He is a former Member of the National Assembly of Quebec (MNA) for the riding of Borduas in the Montérégie region south of Montreal. ...

. The theatrical film depicted the criminal trial of Ovide Plouffe after he is falsely accused of murdering his wife Rita (Létourneau), while the television-only episodes told the story leading up to Rita's death. The series aired in French on Télévision de Radio-Canada, and in English on

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...

, in 1986. The French airing retained the film's title ''Le Crime d'Ovide Plouffe'', while the English airing of the series was retitled from ''The Crime of Ovide Plouffe'' to ''Murder in the Family''.

Awards

The film garnered six

Genie Award The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978; also known as the "Etrog Awards," for scu ...

nominations at the

6th Genie Awards The 6th Genie Awards were held on March 21, 1985, to honour achievements in Canadian cinema in 1984. It was the first time the Genies were broadcast live across Canada by CBC Television, and they drew 1.9 million viewers. The event, held at the Met ...

in 1985: * Best Actor: Gabriel Arcand * Best Supporting Actor: Donald Pilon * Best Art Direction/Production Design: Jocelyn Joly * Best Cinematography: François Protat * Best Costume Design: Nicole Pelletier * Best Editing: Monique Fortier Gabriel Arcand won the award for Best Actor."Daniel Petrie's 'Bay Boy' harbors six Genie Awards". ''

Montreal Gazette The ''Montreal Gazette'', formerly titled ''The Gazette'', is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Three other daily English-language newspapers shuttered at various times during the second half of th ...

'', March 22, 1985.

References

External links

* 1984 films 1984 drama films 1980s Canadian television miniseries Canadian crime drama films Films directed by Denys Arcand Films directed by Gilles Carle CBC Television original films Ici Radio-Canada Télé original programming 1986 Canadian television series debuts 1986 Canadian television series endings Films produced by John Kemeny Films produced by Jacques Bobet French-language Canadian films Canadian drama television films 1980s Canadian films {{Canada-tv-film-stub