Cap Tourmente (1993)

Cap Tourmente is a Canadian drama film, released in 1993.

The film centres on Jeanne O'Neil (Andrée Lachapelle), a single mother running a small inn in rural Quebec with her daughter Alfa (Élise Guilbault). The family's life is turned upside down, however, when bisexual prodigal son Alex (Roy Dupuis) and old family friend Jean-Louis McKenzie (Gilbert Sicotte) simultaneously arrive for a visit, causing chaos as Alex's sociopathic tendencies begin to blow the lid off the family's dysfunctional and borderline incestuous emotional life. Supporting cast members in the film include Macha Limonchik, Gabriel Gascon, Luc Picard, André Brassard and Michèle Deslauriers.

The film garnered Genie Award nominations for all four of its lead actors at the 14th Genie Awards, with Dupuis and Sicotte nominated for Best Actor and Guilbault and Lachapelle nominated for Best Actress.

The film was originally inspired by a family-owned inn in Saint-Joseph-de-la-Rive where director and screenwriter Michel Langlois had worked in his youth. The film first entered development in 1984 as La Traversée, with Léa Pool originally slated to direct. However, she dropped out of the project, and Langlois brought it to French director Paul Vecchiali. Vecchiali was subsequently also unable to direct the film and Pool returned to the project a second time, but was again forced to drop out.

Langlois subsequently put the film on hold, opting to take other jobs in the film industry so that he could learn how to direct the film himself. He continued to write other screenplays, and directed several short films before completing a final draft of Cap Tourmente in 1991 and entering production in 1992 as the film's director. Both Dupuis and Guilbault had previously also acted in Langlois' short film Sortie 234.

In 2009, Langlois released Mère et monde, a documentary film about the real family who had inspired the film.

Synopsis

En aval de Québec, sur la rive nord du fleuve Saint-Laurent, là où il devient plus large, le fief des O’Neil est une demeure familiale devenue auberge. Y vivent, la mère, Jeanne et ses deux enfants : Alex et Alfa. Le retour de Jean-Louis, ami venu d’ailleurs, aura des répercussions sur chacun et sur le clan. Dans un groupe où les relations sont de haine et d’amour mêlées, où la passion peut faire qu’on s’entre-déchire facilement, l’arrivée de Jean-Louis vient exacerber les mœurs du groupe.

Actors