Cinema Canada (Jan-Feb 1981)

FILM REVIEWS been; and how the conflict resulting from the ‘enemy (German) girl in her house and in her town is tearing her apart. Another moment: Timothy Webber and Wendy Crewson, as the couple for War Brides d. Martin Lavut p. Bill Gough assoc. p. Janet Kranz sc. Grahame Woods story ed. Alice Sinclair a.d. Rob Malenfant (1st), John Rainey (2nd), Richard Beecroft (3rd) unit man. Alan McPherson cont Carol Fisher p. sec. Vicki Ohashi d.o.p. Vic Sarin, Michael Storey, Dave Towers mus. Tommy Ambrose, Rick Wilkins (musical arranger sd. Gerry King light. Archie Kay, R. Huckfield, J. Wilson, Len Watier boom lan Challis designer Barbara McLean, Marian Wihak (asst.) set dec. Al Laurie, Bruce Ruppell, Doug Tiller cost. Suzanne Mess, Ted Burbine, J. Alles make-up Daisy Bijac, Sandra Sokol, M. Koekkce hair Anita Miles design co-ord. Torben Madsen staging W. Holcombe, B. Stunden, R. Stos sp. efx. Sandy Smith cast. Gail Carr, Annika McLachlan post-p. Toni Mori ed. Myrtle Virgo L.p. Elizabeth Richardson, Geoff Bowes, Sonja Smits, Layne Coleman, Sharry Flett, Kenneth Pogue, Wendy Crewson, Timothy Webber, Mary Savidge, Joseph Shaw, Alberta Watson, Sean Sullivan, Doris Petrie p.c. CBC running time 120 min. colour 16mm. Post Production Professionals Editors Screenings Neg. Cutters Sound Transfers Quality Control Editing Room Rentals Miliercd Film Services Utd. 425 Adelaide St W., Toronto, Ont M5V 1$4 (416) 363-1076 44/January—February 1981 whom everything goes well, sit on a park bench talking about having another child. The husband says quietly that if he hada son, he wouldn't want him to go to war. Up to this point he has not mentioned anything about his experiences in the war, or anything else of importance. His wife smiles at him uncertainly, not knowing quite how to take it. The scene isn't milked, but we get a lot in a few seconds. Alberta Watson has the small role of Geoffrey Bowes’s old girlfriend, who tried to commit suicide when she heard he had married and who starts an affair with him after his return. She has little to say or do but she is a compelling presence, a fas— blend of the neurotic and the irm. War Brides must be judged a success — the result of the firm grasp that is demonstrated by all concerned in the conception and execution of the film. It succeeds as a made-for-television film by any standards — and in many cases transcends those standards. Alan Stewart Louise Carre’s Ca peut pas étre I’hiver, on n’a meme pas eu d’ete Given our culture’s current preoccupation with the problems of women, it comes as no surprise to find that someone has finally made a film about the adjustment of a mature woman to widowhood. The subject is a potentially challenging one: as a theme, widowhood in late middle-age has none of the notoriety or easy appeal of, say, divorce earlier on. This ought to make it more difficult to incorporate the many new clichés which now plague “trendy” films about the changing role of women. Nonetheless, Ca peut pas...is curiously reminiscent of precisely such a film — Paul Mazursky’s An Unmarried Woman. Admirers of this film will concede that its success was due much more to the performance of Jill Clayburgh and to the timeliness of the subject matter than to the script, which was, all things considered, rather flimsy. Ca peut pas... has neither Clayburgh (though Charlotte Boisjoli certainly puts in an adequate performance) nor a “hot topic”, — nor, for that matter, glamorous Hollywood sets. So, the script has to stand on its own. And it does, but just barely. Filmed mostly in the area around Sorel, it tells the story of Adéle Marquis, a comfortablyoff 57-year-old woman who loses her husband after almost forty years of marriage, during which she raised eight children. Her immediate reaction is naturally one of depression, but after a winter of mourning she decides she’s had enough. A few surprise moves — like taking in a boarder to avoid selling her heavily-mortgaged home; and a few lucky breaks — the boarder turns out to be a suitably personable widower in need of companionship; and Adéle gradually regains full control of her life. She changes her hairdo, learns to drive, goes places she has never been before, all the while gradually developing a discreet friendship with Germain, the new man. But when he proposes marriage she prefers — surprise!— to opt out — rejoicing, though not without some trepidation, in Ca peut pas étre I’hiver... p. Louise Carré d./sc. Louise Carré mus. Marc O'Farrell d.o.p. Robert Vanherweghem, Daniel Fitzgerald (asst.) light. James Gray, Denis Ménard grip Claude Brasseur cont. Claudette Messier ward. Martine Fontaine stills Takashi Seida unit pub. Danielle Sauvage sd. efx. Michel Charron, Ken Page, Roger Lamoureux sd. mix. (mus.) Louis Hone sd. mix. JeanPierre Joutel titles Jean-Marc Brosseau NFB liaison Gaétan Martel ed. André Théberge sd. ed. Anne Whiteside song interp. Louise Lemire, Piere Sénécal lyrics Louise Carré mus. Marc O'Farrell piano/voice Mario Parent 1st unit/a.d. Marianne Feaver p. man. Daniel Louis sd. Alain Corneau, Marcel Fraser (asst.) loc. man. Claire Stevens make-up Brigitte Mc Caughry props Charles Bernier, Marie Dupont (asst.) sec. Carole Villandré p.a. Louis Douville, lolande Paré 2nd unit/a.d. Pierre Gendron p. man. Marie-Andrée Brouillard sec. Suzanne Comtois sd. Jacques Blain, Marcel Fraser, Yvon Benoit (asst), Esther Auger (asst.) makeup Micheline Foisy props Pierre Fournier p.a. Louis Gascon I.p. Charlotte Boisjoli, Jacques Galipeau, Céline Lomez, Mireille Thibault, Serge Bélair, Daniel Matte, Marie-Eve Doré, Martin Neufeld, Peter Neufeld, Anne-Marie Ducharme, Gaétane Laniel, Illia Esopos, Guillaume Tremblay, Isabelle Doré, Lucie Mitchell, Guy Bélanger, Héléne Grégoire, Louise Arbique, Pepper, Jean Richard, Annick Chartier, Réal Cété, Félix Chartier, Wilner Boulin, Jean Belzil-Gascon, Claude Saint-Germain, Martin Lyons, Kathleen Butler, Marjorie Godin p.c. La maison des quatre running time 87 min. col. 16mm dist. J.A. Lapointe Films Inc. (Quebec).