Réjeanne Padovani (1973)

 

Behind the scenes, Réjeanne Padovani, sometime between October 26 and November 28, 1972. Denys Arcand in full effect.

Part of the inspiration came from a recently completed documentary about Quebec politics and the lingering shadow of Maurice Duplessis. Arcand put it this way: “When I made Québec:  Duplessis and After… [1972]… I witnessed a close connection between politics and organised crime.  I would have liked to have shown this connection in the documentary but… it is impossible to convince politicians and their acolytes to disclose anything in front of the camera…. That is the reason I made Réjeanne Padovani:  in order to talk about that world.  Of course, I transposed the situation, I gave it a dramatic form—even respecting the three neo-classical unities—but the whole thing comes from my experience as a political documentarist.”

You can watch Québec: Duplessis et après… in its original French version here.

And you can find Réjeanne Padovani here.

aj

[mustaches; film production; politics; corruption; activism; gangsterism]

l'Initiation (1970)

 

Back to school special 1.

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From the lakehouse to the university. From the Laurentians to l’Université de Montréal.

Denis Héroux’s scandalous l’Initiation is a tale of the country and the city, at least in its early stages, when the film plays upon tensions between leisure and labour, the Laurentians and the modern spaces of late sixties Montreal (lUniversité de Montréal, Hotel Bonaventure, Place Ville-Marie, the Metro, etc.), anticipating key aspects of Denys Arcand’s The Decline of the American Empire (1986) by roughly 15 years. But mostly it’s a bittersweet tale of sexual awakening, one that stars Chantal Renaud (whose life is a snapshot of the Quiet Revolution: yé-yé singer, actress, script writer, and, eventually, the wife of former politician and Parti Québécois leader Bernard Landry) and Jacques Riberolles (Les Demoiselles de Rochefort, among many titles) and co-stars the legendary Danielle Ouimet (Valérie, also by Héroux).

L’Initiation (1970), dir. Héroux—prod. Cinépix

[late summer; early fall; waterskiing; motor-boating; sunbathing; the Laurentians; Université de Montréal; bookstores; post-secondary education; Maple Syrup Porn; Danielle Ouimet]

aj

Bozarts (1969)

 
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Ha! I thought that might get your attention.

Following up on last week’s themes of Place des Arts and cultural interventions, in this week’s edition we have a case study in what happens when “pure,” uninhibited artistic expression clashes with city bylaws and the philistines who enforce them. The conflict zone in question was a construction site on the grounds of the Place des Arts complex in 1968.

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NOTE: In case you can’t make it out: “Jesus Xst est mort. Vive Che Guevara. [Jesus Xst is dead. Long live Che Guevara.]”

NOTE: In case you can’t make it out: “Jesus Xst est mort. Vive Che Guevara. [Jesus Xst is dead. Long live Che Guevara.]”

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Bozarts (1969), dir. Giraldeau—prod. ONF

[artists; art; political art; censorship; repression; Place des Arts; Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal; SPVM; erotic art; Prague Spring; Che Guevara; Jesus Christ]

There’s much more to Jacques Giraldeau’s Bozarts than just this flare-up at Place des Arts. To check out the whole film in the original French, follow this link.

aj