Les Tisserands Du Pouvoir Part I, II
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CINEMA CAN •A D A Claude Fournier's widow who spends her life sneaking drinks; Juliette Huo t portrays a bossy nun; and Anne Les Tisserands du Letourneau shows up in Tisseral1ds as an angular lesbian dressed in men's suits. pouvoir Part I, II Finally, whatever the streng ths and weaknesses of Les Tisserands dll pOll voir, th e (La Revolte) picture's history lesson is clear, and the issues are spelled out. The mill workers didn't just lose their identity; some of them, including children s Part I of Claude Fournier's Les who worked brutally long hours in dangerous Tisserands dll pOIwoir begins, Baptiste conditions, lost their limbs, and even their lives. Lambert (Gratien Gelinas) , an old It would not be unfair to argue that Tisserands man who ca me to Woonsocket, Rhode is se ntimental, melodramatic, and convention Island as a child, is exploding with ally staged and shot, but Fournier is a pop~li s t angerA because the local TV station plans to cancel who wants to make movies about the people he its French-language broadcasts. Baptiste genuinely ca res about in a fo rm that large complains to the TV people and to municipal numbers of those people will actually watch . politicians, but they all dismiss him as a senile He's not going for cool, post music-video crank. anxiety; he aims at the tear-ducts, the gut, and After all, times have changed. The textile mill the groin And he gets his shit-disturbing Baptiste worked in when he was young is about Remy Girard, Pierre Hebert and Pierre Chagnon in t he height of fashion messages across to audiences that enjoy to be torn down so that the Japanese can build a receiving them. motorcycle parts factory. French is virtually a Claude Fournier calls it " a big, complex story" outli ned, central figures like Va lmore Lambert, Maurie Aliof! • dead language in Woonsocket, and hardly and " a mosaic of impressions" tha t add up to a or Emile Fontaine (Pierre Chagnon), the young anybody thinks abou t the old days. For the total picture of the people whose lives revolved doctor who goes on a crusade for the fac tory LES TISSERA NDS DU POUVOJR PART 1 &2 (LA REVOLTE) p. Marie·Jose Ra ymond, Rene Malo town's Franco-American mayor (Donald Pilon) around Woonsocket's mills of power. workers. Emil e's fathe r (Clement Richard, a d. Ise. Ifi/liled "y CiaudeFournier IV. Michel Coumot, froman and the young generation, embodied by a rookie Unfortunately, some of the pieces of this mosaic fo rmer Quebec cabinet minis ter) appears and idea by Marie-Jose Raymond. d.o.p. John Berrie p. IIIgrs. TV reporter (Francis Reddy), the Quebecois are not especially ca ptivating. drops dead in the same scene (Fournier jokes, Sylviede Grandre, Catheri ne de Guirtchitch( France), heritage of the town is "ancient history. " Part I of Les Tisserands, much more so th an Part "We don't deal with his fu neral- so that's one Jean·C1 aude Cattelle (France) 1st . a.d. MireilleGo uletcont. Monique Champagne 11 1115. Martin Fournier, Normand Desperate, Baptiste puts up a one-man protest II, tilts toward the Roussels (th e picture is a fu neral out of Canadian fi lms. ") Corbeil cost. des . Michele Hamel. Christian Cost (France) by barricading himself in a little out-building of Canada-France co-production). When we are Despite these problems, Les Tissera1/ds dll cliief lIIilktllp ivlichele Dion casti llg Lissa Pillu( France ) ed. the abandoned mill with a home-made bomb. with th em in France as they engage in family pOll voir consisten tly holds your atten tion partly Yurij Luhovy, Claude Fournier 1st. asst. mill. Paul Gravel. Surrounded by a crowd of rurious onl ookers, disputes and extravagan t beach parties, we are beca use Fournier knows how to build Isabel Ferrandis (France ) 211d assl. en",. SylvieRosen thal, Catherine Sebag (France) k<y grip Yvon Boudrias, Joseph hysterical politicians, and gum-chewing really in the familiar TV territory of the enviably rough-hewn, but potently dramatic or comic Beghin (France) gaffa Jean Courteau, Patrick Fontaine American cops, the old man decides to tell his wealthy mini-series dynasty . M. Roussel (Jean moments. In one dynamic set piece, th e (France) props Jacques Chamberland sd. ellg. Normand story to the young TV journalist with nointere st Desailly) pushes his weight around ; Mme. migra nts prepare for their fete St. Jean-Baptiste, Mercier, lean Quenelle (France) IlIIil 11/011. Renee Leclerc, in his French Canadian roots. From this point Roussel (legendary French actress Madeleine and the camera pans dozens of kids dressed up Francis Duthilleul(France) sti/ls pllOlog. Jean·Francois Gralton, Jean-Paul Ledieu( France )liair Ric hard Hansen, on, most of Part I and Part II's (La Rroolte) four Robonson) fre ts; and fireworks literally go off in angelic lamb cos tumes, the last with a Josiane Delcourt (France) p. coord. Danielle Boucher p. see. hours consist of flashbacks framed by Baptiste's when young Jacques (Aurelien Recoing) cigarette dangling fro m his lips. Heather Mills, Isabelle Ro lland 2nd. a.d. Jacqoes Laberge, showdown against total assimilation into the romances a flamboyantly bohemian actress Later in the picture, the Archbishop of Georges Gourmelon( France) 3rd. a. d. Guy Bouchard nppmltice d. Richard Ie Bon'pprellti c«ont . Lorelte Leblanc American Way. (Corinne Dacia), who gives Tisserands's period Montreal (TV personality Claude Corbeil ) 'sst cost. des. Louise Gagne cost Pauline Fortin, Tisserands' flashbacks follow the adventures of mise-en-scene a startling fla sh of full frontal pompously asks Simone Fontaine (Gabrielle Emmanuelle Corbeau (France )cost. 'sst LysePome rleau, three families, who, as the film progresses, nudity. Lazure) whether she's ever had"co mmerce Solange Cote electncillns AlexAmyot , Paul Viau, Serge connect with each other in various, sometimes The Roussel scenes don't add up to much in with a man. " The elega ntly dressed Lazure Lobry (France), Daniel Cramette (France) grips Jean·Pierre Lamarche. MarionMaihot , Angelo Sensini (France) 110011/ remarkably coincidental wa ys. The Lamberts, themselves, and they also don't have emotion climbs onto the Archbishop's well-appointed op. Marc il<'au lieu, Daniel Banaz.ck (France ) makellp ",st Baptiste's family, represent the poverty-stricken ally contrapuntal relationship to the scenes that desk, spreads her legs, and asks himif he would Roselyne Hoffmann, Marie-Annick Bascour (France )055 1. French Canadians who migrated to New portray the Lamberts, the Fontaines, and th e like to perform the examination himself. As hair Johanne Paiement. Marylene Colin (France) orl d. England in the early 20 th century, while the other Quebecois migrants. The sequences in Corbeil munches on a cookie and stares balefully Muriel Wahnoun (France) Francois Laplante, Guy Lalande, Rea lOue llette set dec. Anne Galea props exlerior Louise Pilon, Fontaines typify the middle-class Quebecois France, and later in Part I, scenes portraying a at Lazure, Part I of Tissera1/ds gets one of its Jean Pecriaux(F rance), JeanClaude Deseute (France) who also headed south. The Roussels, an decadent Montreal milieu in which haute biggest laughs. rese, rel"rs Francois Fauteux, Ken Meanygrap hiCS SusieMah , industrial dynasty from France, are the kind of bourgeoisie meets haute-bohemian, glitz up th e La Rivolte, Part II of Tisseral1ds, continues to Jean Aube props asst. Simon Chamberland 'pprenti Pa trick movie. But they also dilute the impact of criss-cross between the lives of the decadent rich Chassin, Stephane Lestage ollilll,l trailler Jea nCa rdina l Sf'. early multinational entrepreneurs who built fr Louis Craig set coord. Dominique Houledri"rs Michel textile mills in New England and coldly Tisserands's central drama and theme, the bitter and the poor mi gra nts, but it concentrates on th e Quinn, Marc Doyon, Guy LHoumeau p.a .' s Benoit exploited people like the young Baptiste (Denis disillusionment of the Quebecers who migrated rebellion of the fac tory workers and th eir ally, Laroche, Gu yFerland , Brigitte Singher sd. Jerome Decarie Bouchard) and his father VaImore (Michel south. Dr. Fontaine, against both the mill owners and ~t . ossts. Diane Dou ville, Monique Vezina Sil. rec. Jocelyn Caron dial. ed. Alice Wright asst. ed. EricGenois Sil. eds . Forget). In lean de Florette/Ma llon des Sources, another the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. Valmore Louis Dupice, Antoine Morin 11/115. lee. Paul Page mixers The old Baptiste, who never leaves the four-hour picture released in two parts, Claude Lambert eru pts (in one sce ne, attacking a priest Michel Descombes, Andre Perrau lt I.p. GratienG eli nas, window of the little gatehouse he has occupied, Berri builds up a mythic, epic mise-ell-scene, but during holy communion), and the movie gains a Michel Forget, Denis Bouchard, Andree Pelletier, Aurelien seems to remember everything that happened to the story concentrates sharply on only four new potency. Recoin g, jean Desailly, Madeleine Robinson, Gabrielle Lazure, Dominique Michel, Pierre Chagnon, Climent all these people over a period of several characters, who are revealed in mesmerizing Tisseral1ds also holds its audience because the Richard , Paul Hebert, Rimy Girard , Anne Letourneau,John generations. Somehow, he even knows about detail. picture fea tures what seems like half of Quebec's Wildman, Juliette Huot, Donald Pilon, Frands Reddy, the power games and sexual shenanigans the Tissemnds, especially Part I, cross-cuts at top vedettes, giving generally solid, amusing VIastaV rana, Denise Filiatrault, Claude Corbeil, Gerard Roussels were fond of in France. performances in new roles. Pierre Chagnon Paradis, Corinne Dacia, Dennis O'Connor, Francis Lemaire, speed from one set of its numerous characters to Gisele Casadesus, Charlotte Laurier, Elisabeth Bu rr.