''The Time Thief'' (french: L'Arracheuse de temps) is a 2021 Canadian

period drama A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romance film, romances, adventure f ...

and

fantasy film Fantasy films are films that belong to the fantasy genre with fantastic themes, usually magic, supernatural events, mythology, folklore, or exotic fantasy worlds. The genre is considered a form of speculative fiction alongside science fiction f ...

directed by

Francis Leclerc Francis Leclerc (born 1971 in Quebec City) is a Canadians, Canadian film director, film and television director, screenwriter and film editor. He is the son of Félix Leclerc. Since 1995 he has worked in the Quebec film industry, directing music v ...

, based on the 2009 story by

Fred Pellerin Fred Pellerin (born November 22, 1976) is a Canadian musician and storyteller from Saint-Élie-de-Caxton, Quebec. He is a three-time Juno Award nominee for Francophone Album of the Year, garnering nominations at the Juno Awards of 2011 for ''S ...

of the same name. It stars Jade Charbonneau,

Marc Messier Marc Messier, M.S.C. (born August 16, 1947) is a Canadian actor and filmmaker. Background Born in Granby, Quebec, Messier's 45-year acting career included the participation in several well-known films and television series. After finishing his ...

Céline Bonnier Céline Bonnier (; born August 31, 1965) is a French Canadian actress from Quebec. She has been nominated for four awards including Genie Awards and Gemini Awards. Filmography * 1992: ''Tectonic Plates'' * 1994: ''The Wind from Wyoming (Le V ...

, Guillaume Cyr,

Émile Proulx-Cloutier Émile Proulx-Cloutier (born 1983) is a Canadian actor and musician. He is most noted for his performance in the film ''We Are the Others (Nous sommes les autres)'', for which he received a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Actor at the ...

, Marie-Ève Beauregard,

Pier-Luc Funk Pier-Luc Funk (born May 5, 1994) is a Canadians, Canadian film and television actor from Quebec. He is most noted for his role as Maxime in the 2018 film ''Genesis (2018 Canadian film), Genesis (Genèse)'', for which he received a Prix Iris nomin ...

, Sonia Cordeau, and

Geneviève Schmidt Geneviève Schmidt (born October 19, 1978) is a Canadian actress. She is most noted for her performance in the film ''Compulsive Liar (Menteur)'', for which she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the 22nd Quebec Cinema Awards in 2020.< ...

. The film was theatrically released by Les Films Séville on November 19, 2021.

Premise

An illness-worn grandmother tries to convince her 11-year-old grandson that death does not exist. She tells him about the adventures of her youth in

Saint-Élie-de-Caxton Saint-Élie-de-Caxton is a municipality in the Mauricie region of the province of Quebec in Canada. Before January 15, 2005 it was known simply as Saint-Élie. Located in the foothills of the Laurentian Mountains, its territory is dotted with l ...

, in 1927, when she had tried to eliminate death in the village.

Cast

* Jade Charbonneau as a young Bernadette ** Michèle Deslauriers as an older Bernadette *

as Méo, a barber *

as La Stroop * Guillaume Cyr as Riopel, a blacksmith, and father of Lurette *

as Toussaint Brodeur, a merchant and Jeannette's husband * Marie-Ève Beauregard as Lurette, Riopel's daughter *

* Sonia Cordeau as Jeannette, Brodeur's wife *

as Madame Gélinas

Production

Development

wrote the story ''L'Arracheuse de temps'' in 2007 shortly after the death of his father. On March 30, 2016, it was announced that a feature film adaptation of the story had been in the works from the production company Attraction Images. While working on the 2017 film ''

Barefoot at Dawn ''Barefoot at Dawn'' (french: Pieds nus dans l'aube) is a Canadian drama film from Quebec, directed by Francis Leclerc and released in 2017.Francis Leclerc Francis Leclerc (born 1971 in Quebec City) is a Canadians, Canadian film director, film and television director, screenwriter and film editor. He is the son of Félix Leclerc. Since 1995 he has worked in the Quebec film industry, directing music v ...

, Pellerin wrote part of the initial screenplay for the film. On January 18, 2019, Leclerc revealed that he would direct the film, from a now-completed screenplay written by Pellerin. On April 8, 2019, the film's screenplay was submitted to SODEC, who announced on December 16, 2019, that they would be funding the film.

Filming

Filming for ''The Time Thief'' was divided into two filming blocks; the first began on October 13, 2020, in Saint-Armand, in the

Eastern Townships The Eastern Townships (french: Cantons de l'Est) is an historical administrative region in southeastern Quebec, Canada. It lies between the St. Lawrence Lowlands and the American border, and extends from Granby in the southwest, to Drummondv ...

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 ...

. Filming for the first block, which was mainly focused on shooting exterior scenes, continued in areas around the municipality of

Montérégie Montérégie () is an administrative region in the southwest part of Quebec. It includes the cities of Boucherville, Brossard, Châteauguay, Longueuil, Saint-Hyacinthe, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Salaberry-de-Valleyfield and Vaudreuil-Dorion. The ...

, and concluded on October 30, 2020. Because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, Fred Pellerin was not allowed to visit the film's set until October 15, 2020. The second filming block took place in April 2021 in areas around

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, with the intentions of shooting the film's interior scenes in a studio.

Release

''The Time Thief'' was theatrically released by Les Films Séville in the Canadian province of

on November 19, 2021.

Accolades

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Time Thief 2021 films 2021 drama films 2021 fantasy films 2020s historical drama films Canadian historical drama films Films directed by Francis Leclerc French-language Canadian films 2020s Canadian films