Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Canada's Favorite Uncle Antoine., May 6, 2008
"There is one terrible thing in this world, and that is that everyone has their reasons"--Jean Renoir.
If ever a film deserved the Criterion treatment, it is this one. Québéc director Claude Jutra's Mon oncle Antoine is not only considered his masterwork, but most critics consider it to be the greatest Canadian film ever. Before making Mon oncle Antoine in 1971, Jutra worked with both François Truffaut and Jean Rouch, whose influences along with Renoir's are evident in this sensitive film. Mon oncle Antoine is a subtle film about profound self-discovery, and as a director Juras has the rare gift of drawing us into that discovery. Set in the rural, Quebec mining town of Black Lake City before the Asbestos Strike of the late 1940s (which resulted in the ministries of Education and Health), the film tells the coming-of-age story of 15-year-old Benoit Poulon (Jacques Gagnon), who simultaneously experiences the love of a young girl, Carmen (Lyne Champagne), and the death of an older brother, after his father (Lionel Villeneuve) quits his job at the asbestos mine, and then abandons his wife (Hélène Loiselle) and five children at Christmas. Young Benoit lives with his aunt Cecile (Olivette Thibault) and uncle Antoine (Jean Duceppe) at the town general store. Uncle Antoine serves as everything from the town notary to the town undertaker. The superb film truly deserves all of the acclaim it has received. In many ways, with its emotional depth, it reminds me of another superb Quebecois film, Jean-Claude Lauzon's Leolo. Unfortunately, Jutra's career as a filmmaker was cut short. After completing Mon oncle Antoine, he was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's, which prompted him to drown himself (at age 56) in the St. Lawrence River.
The double-disc Criterion edition of Mon oncle Antoine offers an impressive number of extras, including a newly restored high-definition digital transfer supervised by director of photography Michel Brault; "Mon oncle Antoine," a 2007 documentary tracing the making and history of the film; "Claude Jutra: An Unfinished Story," a 2002 documentary by Paule Baillargeon, featuring interviews with Brault, director Bernardo Bertolucci, and actors Geneviève Bujold and Saul Rubinek; "A Chairy Tale," a 1957 experimental short codirected by Jutra and Norman McLaren; the theatrical trailer; and an essay by film scholar André Loiselle.
G. Merritt
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23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
ONE OF OUR FEW TRUE CLASSICS, September 29, 2002
MON ONCLE ANTOINE is about rural life and the coming of age of a teenage boy whose uncle is an embalmer.Slow moving but immensely rewarding;one can feel the director's tenderness for his characters.The film can be hard to appreciate if you don't speak FRENCH or don't know much about the aspects of rural life in QUEBEC and it's mentality..JUTRA the director, plays a little part in the general store.JEAN DUCEPPE who plays ANTOINE was a very well known actor in QUEBEC;he formed his own theater company in 1973 ... Along the way,the teenage boy also makes his sexual awakening in a funny voyeurism scene in which some women comes to the general store to renew their wardrobes.The film remains the director's most acclaim work.JUTRA sadly died of the ALZHEIMER disease in 1986.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best Canadian films ever made, October 5, 2008
This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film.
Mon Oncle Antoine is a film that has been regarded as the best Canadian film of all time. I can say it is one of the best I have seen also.
The film is directed by Claude Jutra and is about a teenage boy living in an asbestos mining town in rural Quebec during Christmas in the 1940's. He works for his uncle who is the town mortician. The film has great cimenatography and has some great scenes of the town.
The DVD has some good special features also on this double disc set.
Disc one contains the film with both the original French language track and an optional English dub, plus the theatrical trailer.
Disc two contains a 2007 documentary on the film's production, a 2002 biography of Claude Jutra, and "A Chairy Tale" a 1957 short film that Jutra co-directed with Norman McLaren. (This film is about a chair the moves around to avoid being sit on.)
This film is very good and I highly recommend it.
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