The Confessional (film)

Last updated
The Confessional
Le Confessional.jpg
Directed by Robert Lepage
Written byRobert Lepage
Produced by Philippe Carcassonne
David Puttnam
Denise Robert
Starring Lothaire Bluteau
Patrick Goyette
Jean-Louis Millette
Cinematography Alain Dostie
Edited by Emmanuelle Castro
Music bySacha Puttnam
Distributed by Alliance Films (Canada)
Pan-Européenne Distribution (France) [1]
Curzon Artificial Eye (United Kingdom) [1]
Release date
  • August 24, 1995 (1995-08-24)(Italy)
Running time
100 minutes
CountriesCanada
France
United Kingdom
Languages English, French

The Confessional (French : Le Confessionnal) is a 1995 mystery-drama film directed by Robert Lepage. [2]

Contents

The film is set in Quebec City, in two distinct time periods. In the present day, Pierre Lamontagne (Lothaire Bluteau) searches for his estranged brother Marc (Patrick Goyette) to help unravel a family mystery. The mystery itself unfolds in flashbacks set against the backdrop of Alfred Hitchcock's 1952 filming of I Confess in the city. [3]

The cast also includes Ron Burrage as Hitchcock, Kristin Scott Thomas as his assistant, and Jean-Louis Millette as Raymond Massicotte, Marc's lover who also holds the key to unlocking the Lamontagne family's secrets.

Plot

The Confessional is set in Quebec City in 1952, during the time Alfred Hitchcock was filming I Confess . The city is transitioning into the modern era due to the advent of television and its initial exposure to Hollywood. A character resembling Hitchcock is depicted during the local premiere of I Confess. [3]

The story shifts between events in the early '50s and 1989. In 1989, Pierre Lamontagne returns to Quebec City from China for his father's funeral. He struggles to find his adopted brother, Marc. They eventually reunite in a gay sauna. The brothers embark on a quest to discover Marc’s biological father, initially believed to be a parish priest. Their mother, Rachel, after multiple visits to the confessional, gave birth to Marc and later took her own life.

The film often revisits the making of I Confess, centering on Hitchcock's assistant as she interacts with the local church and organizes auditions for Hitchcock. Various characters, such as a mysterious gentleman, play significant roles in the unfolding narrative. [3]

Cast

Awards and nominations

The film was selected as the Canadian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 68th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee. [4] [5]

In 2001, an industry poll conducted by Playback named it the 13th best Canadian film of the preceding 15 years. [6]

AwardDate of ceremonyCategoryRecipient(s)ResultRef.
Genie Awards 1996 Best Picture Denise Robert Won [7]
Best Director Robert Lepage Won
Best Actor Lothaire Bluteau Nominated [8]
Best Supporting Actress Anne-Marie Cadieux Nominated
Marie Gignac Nominated
Best Art Direction/Production Design François Laplante Won [7]
Best Cinematography Alain Dostie Nominated [8]
Best Costume Design Barbara Kidd Nominated
Best Editing Emmanuelle Castro Nominated
Best Overall Sound Jean-Claude Laureux, Jo Caron, Hans Peter Strobl Nominated
Best Sound Editing Nick Berry, Jérôme Décarie, Jacques Plante, Diane Boucher, Antoine MorinNominated
Claude Jutra Award Robert LepageWon [7]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Jesus of Montreal</i> 1989 Canadian film

Jesus of Montreal is a 1989 Canadian comedy drama film written and directed by Denys Arcand, and starring Lothaire Bluteau, Catherine Wilkening and Johanne-Marie Tremblay. The film tells the story of a group of actors in Montreal who perform a passion play in a Quebec church, combining religious belief with unconventional theories on a historical Jesus. As the church turns against the main actor and author of the play, his life increasingly mirrors the story of Jesus, and the film adapts numerous stories from the New Testament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Lepage</span> Canadian writer, actor, director

Robert Lepage is a Canadian playwright, actor, film director, and stage director.

Paul Georges Buissonneau, was a francophone theatre director in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

<i>I Confess</i> (film) 1953 film by Alfred Hitchcock

I Confess is a 1953 American film noir directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Montgomery Clift as Catholic priest Father Michael William Logan, Anne Baxter as Ruth Grandfort, and Karl Malden as Inspector Larrue.

<i>Good Riddance</i> (film) 1980 Canadian film

Good Riddance is a 1980 French-language Canadian drama film. Directed by Francis Mankiewicz and written by Réjean Ducharme, the film concerns Manon, an unstable young girl who lives with her mother Michelle and her alcoholic and intellectually disabled uncle Ti-Guy.

<i>Black Robe</i> (film) 1991 film by Bruce Beresford

Black Robe is a 1991 historical drama film directed by Bruce Beresford, adapted by Brian Moore from his 1985 novel of the same name. Set in the 17th century, it depicts the adventures of a Jesuit missionary tasked with founding a mission in New France. To do so, he must traverse 2400km of harsh wilderness with the help of a group of Algonquins, facing danger from both the unfamiliar environment and rival tribes. The title refers to the nickname given to the Jesuits by the Algonquins, referring to his black cassock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lothaire Bluteau</span> Canadian actor (b. 1957)

Lothaire Bluteau is a Canadian actor, active in film, theatre, and television. He won the Genie Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his portrayal of the title character in Denys Arcand's Jesus of Montreal (1989), with a second nomination for his work in Robert Lepage's The Confessional (1995).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean-Marc Vallée</span> Canadian filmmaker (1963–2021)

Jean-Marc Vallée was a Canadian filmmaker, film editor, and screenwriter. After studying film at the Université du Québec à Montréal, Vallée went on to make a number of critically acclaimed short films, including Stéréotypes (1991), Les Fleurs magiques (1995), and Les Mots magiques (1998).

The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television presents an annual award for Best Achievement in Cinematography, to honour the best Canadian film cinematography.

Jean-Louis Millette was a Canadian French-speaking actor and writer.

<i>In the Shadow of the Wind</i> 1987 film

In the Shadow of the Wind is a 1987 Canadian drama film, directed by Yves Simoneau. It was entered into the 37th Berlin International Film Festival.

Enid Legros-Wise is a Canadian ceramic artist working mainly in porcelain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marquise Lepage</span> Canadian film director and screenwriter

Marquise Lepage, is a Canadian (Québécoise) producer, screenwriter, and film and television director. She is best known for her 1987 feature Marie in the City , for which she received a nomination for Best Director at the 9th Genie Awards in 1988. She was also a nominee for Best Live Action Short Drama at the 14th Genie Awards in 1993 for Your Country, My Country . She was hired by the National Film Board (NFB) as a filmmaker in 1991. One of her first major projects for the NFB was The Lost Garden: The Life and Cinema of Alice Guy-Blaché, a documentary about female cinema pioneer Alice Guy-Blaché.

The Genie Award for Best Theatrical Short Film was a Canadian film award, historically presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television through its Genie Awards program to a film judged as the year's best short film. The award has been inclusive of short films in the live action drama, animated and documentary genres.

<i>King Dave</i> 2016 Canadian film

King Dave is a 2016 Canadian drama film directed by "Podz" and starring screenwriter Alexandre Goyette and Karelle Tremblay. Directed as a single shot, it is based on Goyette's stage play of the same name.

In the Belly of the Dragon is a Canadian comedy science fiction film, directed by Yves Simoneau and released in 1989. The film stars David La Haye as Lou, an aimless slacker who is dissatisfied with his job distributing flyers around the city, and signs up to be a drug testing subject for two mysterious scientists ; meanwhile, his delivery colleagues Steve and Bozo must team up to find and rescue him before the medical experiments go horribly wrong.

The Child Prodigy is a Canadian drama film, directed by Luc Dionne and released in 2010. A biographical drama about classical pianist André Mathieu, the film stars Guillaume Lebon as Mathieu in childhood and Patrick Drolet as Mathieu in adulthood.

The Thawing of Ice is a Canadian drama film, directed by François Péloquin and released in 2024. The film stars Christine Beaulieu as Louise Denoncourt, a parole officer who runs an experimental rehabilitation program for murder convicts who are nearing eligibility for parole, but who faces challenges when evidence emerges that Marc St-Germain, one of the criminals in her program, may have committed the still-unsolved murder of her mother.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patrick Goyette</span> Canadian film and television actor

Patrick Goyette is a Canadian actor from Quebec, most noted for his starring roles in the films The Confessional and Polygraph .

References

  1. 1 2 "The Confessional (1995)". UniFrance . Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  2. Jay Stone, "Lepage's first feature film a feast for the eyes". Ottawa Citizen , December 1, 1995.
  3. 1 2 3 Brian D. Johnson, "Film Review: Le confessional". Maclean's , September 11, 1995.
  4. Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
  5. "41 to Compete for Foreign Language Oscar Nominations". FilmFestivals.com. Archived from the original on April 7, 2012. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  6. Michael Posner, "Egoyan tops film poll". The Globe and Mail , November 25, 2001.
  7. 1 2 3 Maria Topalovich, And the Genie Goes To...: Celebrating 50 Years of the Canadian Film Awards. Stoddart Publishing, 2000. ISBN   0-7737-3238-1.
  8. 1 2 "Lepage leads Genie nominees". The Globe and Mail , November 8, 1995.