Leolo (1992)

Léolo is a 1992 film by Quebecois director Jean-Claude Lauzon. The film was selected as the Canadian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 65th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.

The film tells the story of Léo Lauzon (Maxime Collin), a young boy living in a Montreal tenement with his dysfunctional family. He uses his active fantasy life and the book L'avalée des avalés by Québécois novelist Réjean Ducharme to escape the reality of his life. After deciding that his mother (Ginette Reno) was impregnated not by his father, but by an Italian tomato, he rechristens himself Léolo Lozone, and begins to have sexual fantasies about his neighbour Bianca (Giuditta del Vecchio).

Gilbert Sicotte, as the adult Léolo, narrates the film. The cast also includes Pierre Bourgault, Andrée Lachapelle, Denys Arcand, Julien Guiomar and Germain Houde.

It was Lauzon's final film; he died in a plane crash in 1997 while working on his next project.

Synopsis

Léo Lauzon est un garçon montréalais qui vit au sein d'une famille dysfonctionnelle dans un quartier pauvre de la ville. Il échappe à sa réalité par des rêveries. Entouré de malades mentaux, rêvassant et écrivant, il imagine que sa mère n'a pas été mise enceinte par son père, mais plutôt indirectement par un Sicilien à l'aide d'une tomate italienne contaminée. Il décide ainsi de se faire appeler Léolo Lozone. À l'aube de la puberté, il fantasme sur sa voisine Bianca.

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