''The Human Plant'' (french: La Plante humaine) is a Canadian animated feature film, directed by

Pierre Hébert Pierre Hébert (Villabé, 1804 – Paris, 1869) was a French sculptor. His son, Pierre-Eugène-Emile Hébert (1828–1893) and his daughter Hélène Bertaux were also sculptors. Selected works * ''Boy playing with a tortoise'' (''Enfant ...

and released in 1996. The film stars

Michael Lonsdale Michael Edward Lonsdale-Crouch (24 May 1931 – 21 September 2020), commonly known as Michael Lonsdale and sometimes named as Michel Lonsdale, was a French actor and author who appeared in over 180 films and television shows. He is best know ...

as Mr. Michel, a lonely and isolated widower who spends all his time at home watching television, but is driven to nightmare visions by the constant bombardment of negative and frightening information. The film was a coproduction of the National Film Board of Canada and commercial film studio Arcadia Films. It grew out of an experimental stage animation project that Hébert undertook with composer

Robert Marcel Lepage Robert Marcel Lepage (born 5 July 1951) is a Canadian musician and film score composer. Born in Montreal, Lepage trained in music at the age of 20, and learned to play the clarinet and saxophone. He performed with René Lussier and Pierre Héber ...

in the 1990s, in which Hébert would draw improvisational animations while Lepage performed a live score. Its voice cast also included

Sotigui Kouyaté Sotigui Kouyaté (19 July 1936 – 17 April 2010) was one of the first Malian, Burkinabé actors. He was the father of film director Dani Kouyaté, of the storyteller Hassane Kassi Kouyaté and of the actor Mabô Kouyaté and was a member of th ...

, Domini Blythe,

Joseph Rouleau Joseph A. Rouleau, (February 28, 1929 – July 12, 2019) was a French Canadian Bass (voice type), bass opera singer, particularly associated with the Italian and French repertoires. Life and career Born in Matane, Quebec, he studied privately w ...

, Michelle Allen, Laurent Chabot, Marisa Corriols and Denis Karegeya. The film premiered at the

1996 Toronto International Film Festival The 21st Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) took place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada between September 5 and September 14, 1996. Deepa Mehta's ''Fire'' was selected as the opening film. Awards Programme Gala Presentation *'' Shine'' by S ...

. It was subsequently screened at the Ottawa International Animation Festival and at the Festival du nouveau cinéma. Lepage received a

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 ...

nomination for Best Original Score at the

18th Genie Awards The 18th Genie Awards were held on 14 December 1997, to honour the best Canadian films of 1997. Nominees and winners The Genie Award winner in each category is shown in bold text. References External links Genie Awards 1997 on imdb {{Cana ...

in 1997. The film won the Prix AQCC-SODEC from the

Association québécoise des critiques de cinéma The Association québécoise des critiques de cinéma (AQCC) is a Canadian organization of film critics from Quebec. Formed in 1973, the organization currently presents two annual awards, the Prix Luc-Perreault for best Quebec film of the year and ...

at the Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois in 1997."La Plante Humaine wins best feature-film honors at Rendez-vous du Cinema Quebecois". '' Montreal Gazette'', March 10, 1997.

References

External links

* 1996 films 1996 drama films Canadian animated feature films Quebec films National Film Board of Canada films 1990s French-language films French-language Canadian films 1990s Canadian animated films Films scored by Robert Marcel Lepage {{1990s-Canada-film-stub