''The Great Darkened Days'' (french: La grande noirceur) is a Canadian drama film, directed by

Maxime Giroux Maxime Giroux (born 16 April 1976) is a film director from Quebec, Canada. Giroux was born in Montreal, Quebec. He has directed several short films, videoclips and commercial videos. In 2006, his film '' The Days (Les Jours)'' won the prize for be ...

and released in 2018. Set during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the film centres on Philippe (

Martin Dubreuil Martin Dubreuil (born May 26, 1972) is a Canadians, Canadian actor and musician from Quebec.

), a

draft dodger Draft evasion is any successful attempt to elude a government-imposed obligation to serve in the military forces of one's nation. Sometimes draft evasion involves refusing to comply with the military draft laws of one's nation. Illegal draft ev ...

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 ...

who is living as a drifter and

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is consider ...

impersonator in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Despite its setting, however, the film makes use of some deliberate

anachronism An anachronism (from the Ancient Greek, Greek , 'against' and , 'time') is a chronology, chronological inconsistency in some arrangement, especially a juxtaposition of people, events, objects, language terms and customs from different time per ...

s, including a scene where

R.E.M. R.E.M. was an American rock band from Athens, Georgia, formed in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, who were students at the University of Georgia. One of the first alternati ...

's contemporary song "

Everybody Hurts "Everybody Hurts" is a song by American rock band R.E.M. from their eighth studio album, ''Automatic for the People'' (1992), and released as a single in April 1993. It peaked at number 29 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and reached the top 10 ...

" plays on the radio. The film's cast also includes

Sarah Gadon Sarah Lynn Gadon (born April 4, 1987) is a Canadian actress. She began her acting career guest-starring in a number of television series, such as ''Are You Afraid of the Dark?'' (1999), '' Mutant X'' (2002), and ''Dark Oracle'' (2004). She also ...

Cody Fern Cody Fern (born 6 July 1988) is an Australian actor and director. Following his feature debut in ''The Tribes of Palos Verdes'' (2017), he portrayed murder victim David Madson in the FX series '' The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American C ...

, Luzer Twersky, Romain Duris, Reda Kateb and

Lise Roy Lise Roy (born 1954) is a Canadian actress who has appeared in stage productions, film and television. Roy graduated from the Conservatoire d'art dramatique de Montréal in 1975. In film, she worked with directors such as Denys Arcand, playing Mm ...

. The film premiered at the

2018 Toronto International Film Festival The 43rd annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from September 6 to 16, 2018. In June 2018, the TIFF organizers announced a program to ensure that at least 20 percent of all film critics and journalists given press accreditation to ...

Accolades

References

External links

* *
The Great Darkened Days
' at

Library and Archives Canada Library and Archives Canada (LAC; french: Bibliothèque et Archives Canada) is the federal institution, tasked with acquiring, preserving, and providing accessibility to the documentary heritage of Canada. The national archive and library is th ...

2018 films 2018 drama films Canadian drama films Films directed by Maxime Giroux French-language Canadian films 2010s Canadian films {{2010s-drama-film-stub