''The Merry World of Léopold Z'' (french: La vie heureuse de Léopold Z) is a 1965 comedy-drama 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 ...

that played a key role in efforts to create a popular

national cinema National cinema is a term sometimes used in film theory and film criticism to describe the films associated with a specific nation-state. Although there is little relatively written on theories of national cinema it has an irrefutably important ro ...

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 film follows the misadventures of its

title character The title character in a narrative work is one who is named or referred to in the title of the work. In a performed work such as a play or film, the performer who plays the title character is said to have the title role of the piece. The title of ...

Léopold Z. (

Guy L'Écuyer Guy L'Écuyer (July 26, 1931 - September 20, 1985) was a Canadian actor from Montreal, Quebec. He was most noted for his performance in André Forcier's 1983 film ''Au clair de la lune'', for which he received a Genie Award nomination for Best A ...

), a

snow plow A snowplow (also snow plow, snowplough or snow plough) is a device intended for mounting on a vehicle, used for removing snow and ice from outdoor surfaces, typically those serving transportation purposes. Although this term is often used to re ...

operator for the City of Montreal, on Christmas Eve. The filmincorporates

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

footage of snow clearing in Montreal, and in fact, had been originally commissioned by the

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 ...

as a documentary on snow clearing, only to be turned into a

fictional film Narrative film, fictional film or fiction film is a motion picture that tells a fictional or fictionalized story, event or narrative. Commercial narrative films with running times of over an hour are often referred to as feature films, or feature ...

by the director. The film paints a portrait of a hapless Québécois little man, battling the winter elements as well as the demands of

consumerism Consumerism is a social and economic order that encourages the acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing amounts. With the Industrial Revolution, but particularly in the 20th century, mass production led to overproduction—the su ...

, sexual desire and the requirement at that time for French-speaking Quebecers to speak English to be successful. As with other Quebec NFB films of the period, the film incorporates Direct Cinema techniques. It is also a film with a strong political point of view, with Carle intending his central character to be a "pre-revolutionary" figure, representing how the Québécois people were being exploited by a capitalist, English-speaking power structure. Ironically, while the film portrays a plow operator battling a traditional Montreal

snow storm A winter storm is an event in which wind coincides with varieties of precipitation that only occur at freezing temperatures, such as snow, mixed snow and rain, or freezing rain. In temperate continental climates, these storms are not necessar ...

, an almost snowless winter meant that Carle had to film sporadically over 18 months. The film would go on to win first prize in the feature films category at the Festival of Canadian Films, held as part of the 1965

Montreal International Film Festival The Montreal International Film Festival was an annual Canadian film festival, which took place in Montreal, Quebec from 1960 to 1967.

.Sydney Johnson
"Film Festival Closes"
''

Montreal Star ''The Montreal Star'' was an English-language Canadian newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It closed in 1979 in the wake of an eight-month pressmen's strike. It was Canada's largest newspaper until the 1950s and remained the domi ...

'', August 13, 1965.

References

External links

Watch ''La vie heureuse de Léopold Z''

website (in French) {{DEFAULTSORT:Merry World of Leopold Z, The Films directed by Gilles Carle 1965 films Films set in Montreal Films shot in Montreal National Film Board of Canada films 1960s Christmas comedy-drama films 1960s Christmas films Canadian Christmas comedy-drama films Canadian black-and-white films Films produced by Jacques Bobet 1965 comedy films 1965 drama films French-language Canadian films 1960s Canadian films