Mon oncle Antoine (1971)

Mon oncle Antoine is a 1971 National Film Board of Canada (Office national du film du Canada) French language drama film. Québécois director Claude Jutra co-wrote the screenplay with Clément Perron and directed what is one of the most acclaimed works in Canadian film history.

The film examines life in the Maurice Duplessis-era Asbestos Region of rural Québec prior to the Asbestos Strike of 1949. Set at Christmas time, the story is told from the point of view of a 15-year-old boy (Benoît, played by Jacques Gagnon) coming of age in a mining town. The Asbestos Strike is regarded by Québec historians as a seminal event in the years prior to the Quiet Revolution. Jutra's film is an examination of the social conditions in Québec's old, agrarian, conservative and cleric-dominated society on the eve of the social and political changes that transformed the province a decade later.

Synopsis

Le film se déroule dans les années 1940 au Québec à Black Lake (maintenant Thetford Mines). Dans les villages de cette taille, le magasin général est le pôle d’attraction et le lieu d’échanges de toute la communauté. Les habitants s'y réunissent donc la veille de Noël. Gérant du magasin, l’oncle Antoine, avec son humour et ses gorgées de gin, anime les lieux sous l’œil intéressé de son neveu Benoît (15 ans), qui est orphelin et qui vit chez son oncle.

Actors