Out of the Past 2015 / Les bons débarras / Canada 1979
Thirteen-year-old Manon lives in isolation with her mother Michelle and her mentally challenged uncle Ti-Guy. The charismatic and precocious girl claims exclusive right to her mother’s love, and she’s willing to do anything to have it. One of the key films of Québec cinema, the festival will present a newly restored copy.
Thirteen-year-old Manon lives in an isolated house with her mother Michelle and her mentally challenged uncle Ti-Guy. The charismatic and precocious girl is jealous of her mother’s suitors and is angry at being left at home to do the chores and look after her uncle, who is extremely difficult to handle. Manon presumes to have an exclusive claim on her mother’s love and she’s willing to do anything to keep it. As events unfold, what was originally a strong bond between Michelle and her daughter starts to fracture in an unsettling manner. The author of the screenplay for this remarkable film, filled with characters adopting an almost painfully intense stance toward life, is celebrated writer Réjean Ducharme, dubbed “the Canadian J. D. Salinger.” Complete authenticity, malicious quarrels, irony, and also disarming tenderness – all are rendered via an extremely compelling visual conception in one of the key works of Québécois cinema, now in its newly restored version.
Karel Och
115 min / Color, DCP
Director Francis Mankiewicz
/ Screenplay Réjean Ducharme
/ Dir. of Photography Michel Brault
/ Music Bernard Buisson
/ Editor André Corriveau
/ Art Director Michel Proulx
/ Producer Marcia Couëlle, Claude Godbout
/ Production Productions Prisma
/ Cast Charlotte Laurier, Marie Tifo, Germain Houde
/ Sales Éléphant, mémoire du cinema quebecoise
Francis Mankiewicz (1944, Shanghai – 1993, Montréal), Canadian director, screenwriter and producer, and relative of filmmakers Joseph L. and Herman J. Mankiewicz, debuted in 1971 with The Time of the Hunt (Le temps d’une chasse), which screened at the Venice festival. After the somewhat neglected stage play adaptation A Childhood Friend (Une amie d’enfance, 1978), Mankiewicz turned out the award-winning drama Good Riddance which, after its premiere at the Berlinale, won eight awards from the Canadian Film Academy. The second (and last) directorial and scripting collaboration between Mankiewicz and writer Réjean Ducharme gave rise to Fond Memories (Les beaux souvenirs, 1981). The Revolving Doors (Les portes tournantes, 1988), the final film by this prematurely deceased artist, was premiered in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section, winning the Ecumenical Jury Prize.
Éléphant, mémoire du cinema quebecoise
1240 Rang Montagne, J0E 1A0, Quebec
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