Synopsis
Aurore Gagnon, born in 1909 to Marie-Anne Caron and Télesphore Gagnon, is the second child of the couple. During the first nine years of her life, Aurore enjoys a happy life; her mother often calls her "little ray of sunshine".
During the fall of 1917, Aurore's mother develops tuberculosis. She is brought to the hospital for several months, and doctors conclude she will never recover. Plans are made to give custody of Aurore and her sister Marie-Jeanne to Télesphore and his cousin's widow, Marie-Anne Houde (often simply referred to as Télesphore's cousin in the movie), with whom he had fallen in love.
During a visit to Marie-Anne Houde before she goes into hospital, Aurore's mother finds one of Marie-Anne's children locked inside a wooden structure. This alerts her that Marie-Anne might not treat her children well; later on in the hospital, she becomes hysterical and tearfully pleads with her father not to let Télesphore's cousin-in-law near her children. The priest of the local church, Father Leduc, upon finding out about the living state of Télesphore, his family and the fact that he has been constantly ignoring Marie-Anne Caron's health, forces Télesphore to visit her in hospital. By that point however, Marie-Anne Caron has become so distraught from the news given prior that she has been driven to madness, to the point where she begins depressingly humming and begins showing signs of false memory, calling Télesphore "Charles" and talking about an unconfirmed sister not visiting her as an example (She could be referring to Marie-Anne Houde but that is not clarified). This increases her deterioration and results in her having to be moved to another room with a restraint around her hand, as her madness became so severe that she tried inflicting self harm by attempting to cut off her ring finger. Télesphore leaves in a haste from the sight of his now mentally-disturbed former wife. This would be the last time they interact with each other.
During these events, Aurore sees her father kissing Marie-Anne. The girl accuses him of never having loved her mother and trying to replace her. Before Télesphore can discipline Aurore, her older sister Marie-Jeanne steps in and tries to reason with her. Aurore says that she intends to tell their mother what's going on, but Marie-Jeanne dissuades her from doing so, saying that their mother's illness has affected her mind, referring to the last visit between her mother and father. Later that night, Aurore writes a letter to her mother saying how much she misses her. She walks out into the pouring rain to deliver the letter, but she collapses just outside the house.
Aurore's mother dies in 1918, and Télesphore and Marie-Anne marry immediately after the funeral. Télesphore sends his children to live with his late wife's parents as he tends to his farm. When Father Leduc catches wind of this, he accuses Télesphore of skipping out on his duties as a parent. He then orders Télesphore to bring his children back to the village as soon as possible.
When two of Marie-Anne Houde's stepchildren die unexpectedly, many of the villagers believe she is responsible for it. One day, at the general store owned by Oréus Mailhot, Fortierville's justice of the peace, two villagers confront Télesphore about the deaths of his two children. Télesphore loses his temper and starts a fistfight with one of the villagers. Oréus breaks the fight up and sends Télesphore home.
The situation soon becomes worse for Aurore, who has since lost her faith in God. During Father Leduc's visit to her school, he berates her for incorrectly reciting the Catechism and for asking him not to shout at her. That afternoon, as they are walking in the village, Marie-Anne confides to Father Leduc what Télesphore had told her a few days prior: Télesphore and his first wife were drunk the night Aurore was conceived. Marie-Anne believes that because of this, Aurore is a child of sin and should be dealt with accordingly, yet Father Leduc warns her not to exaggerate. That night, Marie-Anne slaps Aurore and yells at her for talking back to the priest.
As time goes on, the mistreatment becomes more and more brutal, and it especially seems to worsen whenever Marie-Anne is pregnant.
One day, Marie-Anne is cleaning the house, and she is visibly stressed due to her crying newborn. She reprimands Aurore for not knocking before coming in, and Aurore talks back to her. As Aurore is walking up the stairs, Marie-Anne grabs a 2x4 with nails and hits her in the leg with it. Arcadius Lemay and his wife Exilda happen to be walking by and hear Aurore screaming. Exilda wants to go to the Gagnon house and check on Aurore, but Arcadius shuts her down, telling her to mind her own business. Exilda accuses her husband of being afraid of Télesphore, and she starts to make her way over to the Gagnons', but she relents after Arcadius admonishes her.
A few days later, Aurore wanders away from home and sits in front of an oncoming train, but Télesphore and Marie-Anne manage to save her just in time. That night, Télesphore beats Aurore while shouting and swearing at her. Marie-Anne forces the other children to listen to Aurore's screams.
Oréus examines Aurore's leg; Télesphore and Marie-Anne tell him that their neighbors' sons hit her. When Oréus talks to Aurore in private, he tries to reassure her that he can help her, but out of fear, Aurore sticks to the story that her parents came up with. Oréus still has his doubts and orders Télesphore and Marie-Anne to send Aurore to the hospital. Before Télesphore leaves, he is angrily confronted by Oréus, who swears to get to the bottom of the situation.
At the hospital, Aurore has told the nuns that she tripped, and that that is why her leg is injured. One of the nuns, Sister Anna, comes to change her bandages and asks her again how she hurt her leg. Aurore avoids the question and instead writes a letter to Marie-Anne, asking her and Télesphore to pick her up and take her back home. Sister Anna believes that Aurore is being abused, yet the Superior (informally called "Mother Superior") tells her what she has heard about Aurore from Father Leduc—namely, that Aurore is a compulsive liar. Sister Anna suggests that Aurore is only lying out of fear, but the Mother Superior promptly rebukes her for questioning the priest.
After Aurore returns from the hospital, she goes with her family to confession, where Father Leduc accuses her of having lied to the nuns at the hospital. While waiting for her stepdaughter, Marie-Anne steals two gold clips from the church's altar and slips them in her dress pocket. After telling the priest that she wants to be with her mother again, Aurore runs out of the confessional. Marie-Anne grabs her and asks her where she is going, but Aurore simply walks away.
That night, Marie-Anne has a heated argument with Télesphore. She shows him the gold clips and claims that Aurore stole them from the church. Télesphore then breaks off the handle of his axe, marches up to Aurore's room, and starts beating her with the handle.
Marie-Anne Caron's father, Nérée, shows up to Oréus' shop and demands he do something to protect Aurore. Oréus tells Nérée that the reason no one has done anything is because everyone is scared of Télesphore. Nérée then shows Oréus the contract from Télesphore's first marriage, which states that Télesphore and his wife will get money every time one of their children dies.
Oréus promptly confronts Father Leduc with the marriage contract and threatens to report him to the local bishop if he refuses to cooperate. Meanwhile, Marie-Anne has gathered all of her children in the kitchen, and after reciting an excerpt from the Catechism, she takes a red-hot metal poker out of the fireplace and burns Aurore with it repeatedly as the other children watch in horror. Marie-Anne continues to burn Aurore with the poker until well after nightfall; she only stops after one of her sons pleads with her.
One day, Exilda stops by the Gagnon house and walks upstairs, discovering Aurore unconscious. Marie-Anne then surprises her, and the two go downstairs. Marie-Anne tries to justify her treatment of Aurore, claiming she was a detestable child who was conceived in sin. Exilda soon becomes fed up with her and yells at her to be quiet. When Télesphore gets home, Exilda tells him to go upstairs and see what has happened.
When Oréus and several others, including doctors, arrive at Aurore's home, it is too late—she has collapsed on the stairs and has suffered another beating at the hands of Marie-Anne. Doctors are unable to save Aurore, and she dies of blood poisoning.
As he is conducting an autopsy on Aurore, Father Leduc sees all of Aurore's wounds and realizes that she was, in fact, being abused. He then breaks down in tears. Shortly after, he pays a visit to a very drunk Oréus, who swears at him. Father Leduc confesses to Oréus that he never wanted to move to Fortierville; his dream has been to make it to the Vatican. Oréus then blames Father Leduc for not intervening sooner, which might have saved Aurore's life.
After Aurore's funeral, Télesphore and Marie-Anne are immediately arrested. Télesphore is sentenced to life in prison for manslaughter. Marie-Anne is initially sentenced to death by hanging for second degree murder. She is, however, given a life sentence, but health issues force her to leave the jail, and she later dies from breast and brain cancer.
The following Sunday, during his sermon, Father Leduc urges the people of Fortierville to put Aurore's tragic death behind them, but Oréus swears that he will never forget it. He and all the other churchgoers then walk out of the church.
Wracked with guilt and remorse, the priest later kills himself with explosives.
The film ends with an epilogue of Aurore's abusive parents and a picture of her real-life grave.
Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont was a French novelist who wrote Beauty and the Beast. Born to a middle-class family, she was raised alongside her younger sister, Catherine Aimée. Both were provided education at a convent school and stayed on as teachers. Rather than remain and take her vow as a nun, she left for Metz, France, and became a governess for a prominent family in a court in Lunéville. As a long-time educator, she became well known for her written works on behavior and instructional teaching for young women. Her interest in the genre of education contributed to her inclusion of fairytales to teach moral behavior.
Marie-Aurore-Lucienne Gagnon, simply known as Aurore Gagnon, was a Canadian girl who was a victim of child abuse. She died of exhaustion and blood poisoning from some 52 wounds inflicted by her stepmother, Marie-Anne Houde, and her father, Télesphore Gagnon. The story of l'enfant martyre received great attention in the media and Aurore became an icon of Quebec sociological and popular culture.
Stéphanie Lapointe is a Quebec singer, song writer, television and movie actress and humanitarian activist. She is best known as the winner of the second season of Star Académie.
Marie Jeanne Baptiste of Savoy-Nemours was born a Princess of Savoy and became the Duchess of Savoy by marriage. First married by proxy to Charles of Lorraine in 1662, Lorraine soon refused to recognise the union and it was annulled. She married Charles Emmanuel II, Duke of Savoy in 1665 who was her kinsman. The mother of the future Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia who saw the elevation of the House of Savoy to kings, she styled herself as Madama Reale or Madame Royale. She acted as Regent of Savoy from 1675 in the name of her son Victor Amadeus II, who was her husband's successor. Her regency officially ended in 1680, but she maintained power until her son banished her from further influence in the state in 1684. She left a considerable architectural legacy in Turin, and was responsible for the remodelling of the Palazzo Madama, which was her private residence. At the time of her death she was the mother of the King of Sardinia as well as great grandmother of two other kings, Louis I of Spain and Louis XV of France.
Anne Marie d'Orléans was Queen of Sardinia by marriage to Victor Amadeus II of Savoy. She served as regent of Savoy during the absence of her spouse in 1686 and during the War of the Spanish Succession. She is also an important figure in British history.
Serge Postigo is a Canadian actor.
Charles Godefroy de La Tour d'Auvergne was a French nobleman and member of the powerful House of La Tour d'Auvergne.
Aurore and Aimée is a French literary fairy tale written by Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont. Like her better known tale Beauty and the Beast, it is among the first fairy tales deliberately written for children.
Jeanne Jugan, religious name Mary of the Cross, was a French religious sister who became known for the dedication of her life to the neediest of the elderly poor. Her service resulted in the establishment of the Little Sisters of the Poor, who care for the elderly who have no other resources throughout the world. She has been declared a saint by the Catholic Church.
Terre humaine is a French-Canadian soap opera TV series written by Mia Riddez which originally aired on Radio-Canada from September 18, 1978 to June 4, 1984, totalling 229 episodes.
Marie Louise Trichet, also known as Marie-Louise de Jésus (1684–1759), was a French Catholic figure who, with Louis de Montfort, founded the Congregation of religious women called Daughters of Wisdom and since the age of seventeen devoted her life to caring for the poor and the sick. She is also referred to as the First Daughter of Wisdom. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II.
Marie Bell, born Marie-Jeanne Bellon-Downey, was a French tragedian, comic actor and stage director. She was the director of the Théâtre du Gymnase in Paris from 1962 onwards, and this theatre now bears her name.
Louise Françoise, Duchess of Bourbon was the eldest surviving legitimised daughter of Louis XIV of France and his maîtresse-en-titre Françoise-Athénaïs, Marquise de Montespan. She was said to have been named after her godmother, Louise de La Vallière, the woman her mother had replaced as the king's mistress. Before her marriage, she was known at court as Mademoiselle de Nantes.
The Sisters of St. Anne (SSA) is a Catholic religious institute founded in 1850 in Vaudreuil, Quebec, Canada, by Marie Anne Blondin to promote the education of the rural children of the Province of Canada. Their vision is rooted and guided by Ignatian spirituality.
Jeanne de Bar, suo jure Countess of Marle and Soissons, Dame d'Oisy, Viscountess of Meaux, and Countess of Saint-Pol, of Brienne, de Ligny, and Conversano was a noble French heiress and Sovereign Countess. She was the only child of Robert of Bar, Count of Marle and Soissons, Sire d'Oisy, who was killed at the Battle of Agincourt when she was a baby, leaving her the sole heiress to his titles and estates. In 1430, at the age of fifteen, Jeanne was one of the three women placed in charge of Joan of Arc when the latter was a prisoner in the castle of John II of Luxembourg, Count of Ligny, Jeanne's stepfather.
Chambres en ville was a Québécois téléroman written by Sylvie Payette that aired on TVA from 1989 to 1996.
Jérôme le Royer de la Dauversière was a French nobleman who spent his life in serving the needs of the poor. A founder of the Société Notre-Dame de Montréal, he also helped to establish the French colony of Montreal. He was the founder of the Congregation of the Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph, Religious Sisters dedicated to the care of the sick poor and has been declared venerable by the Catholic Church.
The 19 martyrs of Algeria were a group of nineteen individuals slain in Algeria between 1994 and 1996 during the Algerian Civil War. They all were priests or professed religious belonging to religious congregations, including seven Trappist Cistercian monks; one was a bishop. Their nations of origin were France (15), French protectorate of Tunisia (1), Spain (2), and Belgium (1).
A Woman's Faith is a 1925 American silent drama film directed by Edward Laemmle and written by Edward T. Lowe Jr. and C.R. Wallace. It is based on the 1925 novel Miracle by Clarence Budington Kelland. The film stars Alma Rubens, Percy Marmont, Jean Hersholt, ZaSu Pitts, Hughie Mack, and Cesare Gravina. The film was released on August 9, 1925, by Universal Pictures.
Jeanne de Coëme, Dame de Lucé and de Bonnétable (1555–1601) was a French noble and courtier. She was the daughter of Louis de Coesme and a member of the House of Bourbon. She married François de Bourbon, titled the Prince of Conti. As such, after her marriage she was the Princess of Conti.
