''The Far Shore'' is a Canadian drama film, directed by

Joyce Wieland Joyce Wieland (June 30, 1930 – June 27, 1998) was a Canadian experimental filmmaker and mixed media artist. Wieland found success as a painter when she began her career in Toronto in the 1950s. In 1962, Wieland moved to New York City and e ...

and released in 1976."Far Shore beautiful but flat". ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'', September 25, 1976. Wieland's first commercial narrative feature film after years of making experimental short films, ''The Far Shore'' is a romantic drama which borrows elements from the life and death of painter Tom Thomson. It premiered at the

1976 Cannes Film Festival The 29th Cannes Film Festival was held from 13 to 28 May 1976. The Palme d'Or went to ''Taxi Driver'' by Martin Scorsese. In 1976, "L'Air du temps", a new section which was non-competitive and focused on contemporary subjects, was introduced. This ...

, before having its Canadian premiere at the Canadian Film Institute's Ottawa 76 festival in August.

Plot

Eulalie (

Celine Lomez Céline Lomez (born 11 May 1953) is a Canadian actress and singer. Lomez started her show business career singing French-Canadian pop songs with her sister Liette, and the two gained popularity after their performance at the ''Festival du D ...

), a Québécois woman in a loveless marriage to wealthy industrialist Ross Turner (Lawrence Benedict), begins an affair with painter Tom McLeod ( Frank Moore).

Production

Wieland wrote the initial outline of the film in 1969, after viewing a retrospective show of Thomson and the Group of Seven.

Doug Fetherling Douglas George Fetherling (born 1949), is a Canadian poet, novelist, and cultural commentator. One of the most prolific figures in Canadian letters, he has written or edited more than fifty books, including a dozen volumes of poetry, five book-leng ...

, "Joyce Wieland in Movieland: What was a fine artist doing in a world of hype and hustle?" ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'', January 24, 1976. The film was originally titled ''True Patriot Love''. After failing to receive a grant from the

Canadian Film Development Corporation Telefilm Canada is a Crown corporation reporting to Canada's federal government through the Minister of Canadian Heritage. Headquartered in Montreal, Telefilm provides services to the Canadian audiovisual industry with four regional offices in V ...

, she shelved the project for a time, although some of the drawings that she made to accompany the script outline were included in her gallery shows. She began writing the screenplay in earnest in 1972, hiring television writer Bryan Barney to assist. During this time, she also drew a large number of

storyboard A storyboard is a graphic organizer that consists of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence. The storyboarding process, i ...

s to illustrate her vision for the film. Shooting for the film occurred from 18 November to 6 December 1974, and from 7 June to 25 June 1975, on a budget of $435,000 (), with $200,000 coming from the CFDC. Judy Steed came on as producer in 1973, with Wieland and Steed incorporating their own production company, The Far Shore Inc., in 1974. Over the next couple of years, they were able to secure partial funding from CFDC,

Famous Players Famous Players Limited Partnership, DBA Famous Players, is a Canadian-based subsidiary of Cineplex Entertainment. As an independent company, it existed as a film exhibitor and cable television service provider. Famous Players operated numerous m ...

, Baton Broadcasting and the ''

'', but were not able to complete the film until influential

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 ...

film producer Pierre Lamy signed on as the film's executive producer in 1975, securing the remaining funding needed. Famous Players' financial commitment was initially made conditional on the film hiring a big-name star to play Tom McLeod, suggesting

Rip Torn Elmore Rual "Rip" Torn Jr. (February 6, 1931 – July 9, 2019) was an American actor whose career spanned more than 60 years. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his part as Marsh Turner in '' Cross Creek'' ...

, Stacy Keach and Donald Sutherland, but they eventually withdrew the demand and allowed the film to proceed with Moore in the role. Filming was completed in 1975, with post-production completed in early 1976.

Release

The film was shown at the National Arts Centre on 5 August 1976, and theatrically released on 24 September.

Critical response

Gary Michael Dault of the ''

'' called the film gorgeous, praising the cinematography of

Richard Leiterman Richard Leiterman (March 7, 1935 – July 14, 2005) was a Canadian cinematographer, best known for documentary and feature film work in the 1960s and 1970s. His cinéma vérité, or direct camera, style helped define Canadian cinema at the time. ...

and the production design of Anne Pritchard, but said it was ruined by the acting. The reviewer for ''

'' offered a similar assessment, calling the film beautiful but flat and stating that Moore gave the film's only strong acting performance. The film is one of several from the era which have since been analyzed as an

allegory As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a hidden meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory th ...

for

Canadian nationalism Canadian nationalism seeks to promote the unity, independence, and well-being of Canada and the Canadian people. Canadian nationalism has been a significant political force since the 19th century and has typically manifested itself as seeking t ...

Awards

The film won three Canadian Film Awards in 1976: Best Supporting Actor (Moore),

Best Cinematography This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

(Leiterman) and

Best Art Direction The Academy Award for Best Production Design recognizes achievement for art direction in film. The category's original name was Best Art Direction, but was changed to its current name in 2012 for the 85th Academy Awards. This change resulted fro ...

(Pritchard).

Wyndham Wise Wyndham Paul Wise is a Canadian film historian, critic, editor and publisher. He was the founder and editor-in-chief of the film magazine '' Take One: Film & Television in Canada'' (1992-2006). Career Born in London, England, Wyndham Wise was rais ...

, ''Take One's Essential Guide to Canadian Film''.

University of Toronto Press The University of Toronto Press is a Canadian university press founded in 1901. Although it was founded in 1901, the press did not actually publish any books until 1911. The press originally printed only examination books and the university calen ...

, 2015. . p. 263.

References

Works cited

* *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Far Shore, The 1976 films 1976 drama films Canadian drama films English-language Canadian films 1970s English-language films 1970s Canadian films Films directed by Joyce Wieland English-language drama films