''The Old Country Where Rimbaud Died'' (french: Le Vieux pays où Rimbaud est mort) is a 1977 French-Canadian feature from

Jean Pierre Lefebvre Jean Pierre Lefebvre (; born 17 August 1941) is a Canadian filmmaker. He is widely admired as "the godfather of independent Canadian cinema," particularly among young, independent filmmakers. Biography Jean Pierre Lefebvre studied literature a ...

. The second film in his Abel Gagné trilogy, preceded by '' Don't Let It Kill You (Il ne faut pas mourir pour ça)'' in 1967 and followed by '' Now or Never (Aujourd'hui ou jamais)'' in 1998, the film follows Abel (

Marcel Sabourin Marcel Sabourin, OC (born March 25, 1935) is a Canadian actor and writer from Quebec.Gaetan Charlebois and Anne Nothof"Sabourin, Marcel" ''Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia'', October 20, 2015. He is most noted for his role as Abel Gagné, the centra ...

) on a journey to France to visit the land of his ancestors.

Synopsis

Abel leaves Montreal for a visit to France, the country of his ancestors. In Paris he encounters several people, from a taxi-driver to a ''haute bourgeoisie'' family. He visits Jeanne (Myriam Boyer), a young widow who lives with her daughter (Viviane Lesser) and works in a garment factory. When Jeanne’s mother hangs herself they leave for Charleville, their hometown and

Rimbaud Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism. Born in Charleville, he start ...

's birthplace, where Abel meets Jeanne’s drunkard father (Roger Blin). Abel leaves for the Cote d’Azur where he meets Anne (Anouk Ferjac), a children’s court judge whose relationship with her husband (François Perrot) has deteriorated. They have an affair, during which Anne confesses her unhappiness. Abel returns to Quebec.

Cast

: Abel *

Anouk Ferjac Anouk Ferjac (born 25 May 1932) is a French actress. She has appeared in 100 films and television shows between 1946 and 2000. Selected filmography * ''Scandal on the Champs-Élysées'' (1949) * ''Justice Is Done'' (1950) * '' Without Trumpet ...

: Anne *

Myriam Boyer Myriam Boyer (born 23 May 1948) is a French actress. She appeared in more than eighty films and television shows since 1970. At the age of 18, she married with whom she had a son, Clovis Cornillac. From 1975 until his death in 1999 she was marri ...

: Jeanne *

Roger Blin Roger Blin (Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, 22 March 1907 – Évecquemont, France, 21 January 1984) was a French actor and director. He staged world premieres of Samuel Beckett's '' Waiting for Godot'' in 1953 and ''Endgame'' in 1957.C. J. Ackerl ...

: Jeanne's father *

François Perrot François Perrot (26 February 1924 – 20 January 2019)1984 Festival of Festivals as part of Front & Centre, a special retrospective program of artistically and culturally significant films from throughout the history of Canadian cinema. The

2001 Toronto International Film Festival The 26th Toronto International Film Festival ran from September 6 to September 15, 2001. There were 326 films (249 feature films, 77 short films) from 54 countries scheduled to be screened during the ten-day festival. During a hastily arranged pres ...

presented a Lefebvre retrospective in conjunction with the publication of ''Jean Pierre Lefebvre, Vidéaste'' by Peter Harcourt. In the program notes for the film Harcourt wrote: "Conceived as a continuation of Lefebvre's ''Il ne faut mourir pour ça'', ''Le Vieux pays où Rimbaud est mort'' tells the story of Abel, who travels to France on a personal quest. Enraptured by the cultural aesthetics of Rimbaud and Cézanne, Abel longs to discover the link, if any, between the 'glories' of France and his uncertain identity as a Québécois. On his journey to the locations where

Arthur Rimbaud Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism. Born in Charleville, he starte ...

was born, lived and died, Abel encounters a variety of French people who represent in their different ways the various regions of their nation. These encounters put into context for Abel the place, or placelessness of his own identity". ''Le Vieux pays où Rimbaud est mort'' remains a poetic commentary on how Canadians are perhaps still fighting the old colonial battles with European powers.

Reception

This official Canada-France co-production, which was shown in competition at the

1977 Cannes Film Festival The 30th Cannes Film Festival was held from 13 to 27 May 1977 in film, 1977. The Palme d'Or went to the ''Padre Padrone'' by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani. A new non-competitive section, "Le Passé composé", is held at this festival only and focuses ...

, is certainly one of the director’s accessible films, but it did less well in commercial distribution than it deserved. Made as the

Parti Québécois The Parti Québécois (; ; PQ) is a sovereignist and social democratic provincial political party in Quebec, Canada. The PQ advocates national sovereignty for Quebec involving independence of the province of Quebec from Canada and establishin ...

came to power, it was unfashionably critical of Quebec's colonial relationship to France. "Film skirts banality in its mixture of satirical and mainly black and white looks at France by this fairly simple and direct Quebecoise of French origin. But there is a certain charm and perceptiveness, in broad strokes, about the mixture of French generosity and lack of it". ''Variety'' "By turns gay and sad, and for the most part languorously beautiful, its beauty remains as separate from its Quebecois hero as the Cézanne paintings on the museum walls. The France of his ancestors, the France he has come to find, exists only in the museums and in his imagination. And it is Lefebvre's genius that he has invented a visual language for describing this shadowy terrain between the public gallery and corridors of the mind". ''Take One''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Old Country 1977 films Films directed by Jean Pierre Lefebvre Films set in France Canadian drama films 1977 drama films 1970s French-language films French-language Canadian films 1970s Canadian films