Pour la suite du monde
Pour la suite du monde | |
---|---|
Directed by | Michel Brault Marcel Carrière Pierre Perrault |
Written by | Michel Brault Pierre Perrault |
Produced by | Fernand Dansereau |
Narrated by | Stanley Jackson |
Cinematography | Michel Brault Bernard Gosselin |
Edited by | Werner Nold |
Distributed by | National Film Board of Canada |
Release date |
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Running time | 105 minutes |
Country | Canada |
Language | French |
Pour la suite du monde (also known as For Those Who Will Follow; Of Whales, the Moon, and Men, or The Moontrap in English) is a 1963 Canadian documentary film directed by Michel Brault, Marcel Carrière and Pierre Perrault. It was entered into the 1963 Cannes Film Festival.[1]
Plot synopsis[]
The film is a work of ethnofiction. It shows life in a small isolated community, when the influence of the Catholic Church in Quebec was still strong.
For centuries the inhabitants of Ile-aux-Coudres, a small island in the St. Lawrence River, trapped beluga whales by sinking a weir of saplings into the offshore mud at low tide. After 1920, the practice was abandoned. In 1962, a team of National Film Board of Canada filmmakers led by director Perrault and cinematographer Brault arrived on the island to make a cinéma-vérité documentary about the people and their isolated life. They encouraged the islanders to revive the practice of beluga fishing. The live animal they caught was then driven on a truck to an aquarium in New York City.
The film also shows the daily life of the islanders, and their celebrations, such as the festival at mid-Lent (mi-carême).
Reception[]
The resulting film was hugely popular in Quebec, and today is recognized as a classic of Canadian cinema. Pour la suite du monde has been consistently ranked by critics as one of the best ever made and it represents a major development in the Direct Cinema movement, moving away from simple observation to a more immediate participation and a great emphasis on the words of the people portrayed.[2] It received a Special Award and was named Film of the Year at the 1964 Canadian Film Awards.[3] In 1984 the Toronto International Film Festival ranked the film eighth in the Top 10 Canadian Films of All Time.[4]
The film features local residents Léopold Tremblay, Alexis Tremblay, Abel Harvey, Louis Harvey and Joachim Harvey, along with a narrator.
The film was followed by two more installments in Perrault's "Île-aux-Coudres Trilogy", The Times That Are (Le règne du jour) and The River Schooners (Les voitures d'eau).[5]
Quebecois filmmaker Denis Villeneuve declares that Perrault's "Île-aux-Coudres Trilogy" is "amongst the most beautiful films he has ever seen".[6] It remains a major source of inspiration and influence for him.
Cast[]
- Léopold Tremblay as Marchand and president of the new beluga fishing co.
- Alexis Tremblay as Cultivateur et politicien
- Abel Harvey as Capitaine et maître de pêche
- Louis Harvey as Cultivateur et chantre d'église
- Joachim Harvey as Capitaine du Nord de l'Île
- Stanley Jackson as Narrator
Alternate English versions and titles[]
The film has been screened in various versions and with no less than four English-language titles. At its 1963 Cannes premiere, it was billed as For Those Who Will Follow.[1] The NFB has also promoted the film in English as Of Whales, the Moon and Men [7] or The Moontrap,[8] depending upon whether it was the 105 minute or 84 minute version, respectively. The release of a 2007 "Île-aux-Coudres Trilogy" DVD trilogy also translates the film title as For the Ones to Come.[9]
The film is commonly referred to as simply Pour la suite du monde in both French and English.[2][10]
See also[]
- Docufiction
- List of docufiction films
- Man of Aran, a 1934 film centred around reviving a shark fishing tradition
References[]
- ^ a b "Festival de Cannes: For Those Who Will Follow". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved February 27, 2009.
- ^ a b "Pour la suite du monde". Canadian Film Encyclopedia. Film Reference Library. Archived from the original on February 4, 2009. Retrieved March 9, 2009.
- ^ "Awards". Of Whales, the Moon and Men collections page. National Film Board of Canada. Archived from the original on September 2, 2007. Retrieved March 10, 2009.
- ^ "Top 10 Canadian Films of All Time," The Canadian Encyclopedia, 2012, URL accessed April 28, 2013.
- ^ David Clandfield, Pierre Perrault and the Poetic Documentary. Indiana University Press, 2004. ISBN 9780968913239.
- ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Msl6C77MNcs
- ^ "Of Whales, the Moon and Men". National Film Board of Canada collections page. Archived from the original on September 2, 2007. Retrieved March 8, 2009.
- ^ "The Moontrap". National Film Board of Canada collections page. Archived from the original on February 22, 2012. Retrieved March 9, 2009.
- ^ "Île-aux-Coudres Trilogy - Disc 1". National Film Board of Canada collections page. Archived from the original on January 23, 2008. Retrieved March 9, 2009.
- ^ "Pour la suite du monde". National Film Board of Canada collections page. Archived from the original on February 22, 2012. Retrieved March 8, 2009.
External links[]
- 1963 films
- French-language films
- 1963 documentary films
- Canadian black-and-white films
- Canadian films
- Canadian docufiction films
- Ethnofiction films
- Films about whaling
- Films directed by Michel Brault
- Films directed by Pierre Perrault
- Films set in Quebec
- National Film Board of Canada documentaries
- Best Picture Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners
- Films shot in Quebec
- Films directed by Marcel Carrière
- Whaling in Canada