Mon Oncle Antoine - University of Toronto Mississauga

Claude Jutra (1930-1986)
Born in Montreal
Upper middle class background
Father a doctor
Studied medicine himself but never
practiced
Committed suicide
Claude Jutra’s early career
Amateur films
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Le Dément du Lac Jean-Jeunes 1948
Mouvement perpétuel/Perpetual motion 1949
 Prize for best amateur film at Canadian Film Awards
Influences
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François Truffaut
 Les Quatre Cents Coups/The Four Hundred Blows 1958

Jean Rouch
 Moi, un noir/I, a Negro 1957
Cinematic style
Blending of documentary and fiction

Anna la bonne/Anna the maid 1959 with
François Truffaut, text by Jean Cocteau
Interest in direct cinema

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Le Niger jeune république/Niger young
republic 1961
À tout prendre/Everything considered
1963
Quebec Heritage
Mon oncle Antoine 1971
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Did well at box office
Kamouraska 1973
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From Anne Hébert’s novel with Geneviève Bujold
A period piece, big budget production
A very long film
Lack of success at the time
Ruined Jutra’s career
Mon oncle Antoine 1971
21 international prizes, 8 Canadian Film
Awards, including best feature
Consistently rated as “best Canadian film ever
made”
One of few Quebec films to reach a wide
audience
Critical success in US, Britain and France
A culturally significant film
Selected by the AV Preservation Trust
though 2000 Masterworks Program

Praised for
 Acute observation of Quebec village life in
1940s
 Universality of theme
Yet caused controversy in Quebec

Critical reception mixed
Criticisms in Quebec
Muddled script
 Two interconnected plots
 A coming-of-age story interrupted by story of
Jos Poulin
Confusing point of view
 Rebellion
 Nostalgia
October Crisis of 1970
Oct 5 Kidnapping of James Cross,
British Trade Commissioner, by FLQ

Set of demands: liberation of political
prisoners, safe-conduct
Oct 10 Kidnapping of Pierre Laporte,
Minister of Labour and Manpower
War Measures Act
Oct 16 War Measures Act
Curtailment of civil liberties
Incarceration of hundreds of individuals
Pierre Laporte murdered
James Cross found unharmed in
December
Claude Jutra’s politics
Separatist

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Refused the Order of Canada in 1972
Did not believe in bilingual Canada
Yet worked in Toronto for a few years

TV movies for CBC
Mon oncle Antoine:
Authenticity
Screenplay

Clément Perron and Claude Jutra
Based on Clément Perron’s childhood
memories
Community near Thetford Mines
Logging camp
Thetford Mines, PQ
North East of Montreal
Founded in 1876

Discovery of large abestos deposits in the
area
Political hotbed
Tragic past

Effects of abestos
Abestos
Mineral


Pliant properties
Ability to withstand heat
Popular in the XIXth c
Now known to have toxicity

Causes cancer and abestosis (inflammation
of the lungs)
Time frame
“Not so long ago”

Intended to be in the 1940s
Few details to date film

Graffiti
 Maurice Duplessis: Quebec Premier

(1936-39; 1944-59)
Mon oncle Antoine
Title evokes family and nostalgia
 Christmas
 Music and songs
 Sense of community
Benoît an orphan

Antoine and Cécile act as parents
Traditional way of life
General store: crossroads of village life
Lumbering camps
Sleigh rides
Clothing

Pelisses
Traditional images of
Quebec life
Similarity with paintings by

Cornelius Krieghoff (1815-1872)
 Canadian of Dutch birth

Clarence Gagnon (1881-1942)
 Born in Montreal
The Toll Gate
Cornelius Krieghoff, 1859
“The Blacksmith’s shop”
Cornelius Krieghoff, 1871
“A Laurentian Homestead”
Clarence Gagnon, 1924
“March in the Birchwoods”
Clarence Gagnon
Antoine
A kind family man
 A caring father to Jacques and Carmen
Takes care of the community

Feels “Generous” to all
Antoine
Original title Silent Night
Reference to Christmas carol
Silence of Quebec
Irony

End of traditional Quebec
 Patriarchal structure
 Influence of the church

Loss of innocence
Silence of Quebec
English: language of power
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The bosses’ language
“I don’t speak English” Jos Poulin
French mixed with English

“le wrench”, “maudite maintenance”
Quebec’s darkness
“La grande noirceur”
Lack of privacy

Gossip in general store
Sexual repression
Lack of opportunities
Exploitation

The Poulins
Death in life existence
Film begins and ends with funeral
wakes
Link with
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Asbestosis
The drinking at the tavern
Debunking of patriarchal
figure
Antoine not respectable

Strips a dead body of rosary and jacket
A drunkard and a glutton
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Distorting lenses
A fearful man
A cuckold
Exposes disrespect of the
Church
Desecration of the host, communion
wine and the church itself
Child Jesus damaged
Final scene
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Parody of the nativity scene
Loss of innocence
At first sex presented as childish game
Touching
Yet foreshadowing: coffins, veil
Watching
Confrontation with realities of sexuality
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Sordid liaison
 Cécile and Fernand
Benoît’s dream
Death and desacralization of church
symbols
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Stealing of the rosary by Antoine
Sex
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Alexandrine
Affirmation of life and joy
 Cf The Poulins love scene in barn
Mon oncle Antoine
An ode to Quebec spirit
Acts of defiance

Set the stage for Quiet Revolution of the
1960s
Link with traditions
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Joyful music
 Throwing snowball at mine owner
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Rebellious songs
 Le Marchand de velours
Warmth of family life
The Poulin family circle
Jos’ return
Jos’ love for his wife
Strength of personal bonds
Towards a new Quebec
Present built on the past

Cf Robert Lepage Le Confessionnal
Freeze-frame ending
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Challenge to the spectator
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Cf The Four Hundred Blows François Truffaut
Benoît excluded from the family circle

Will build his own future