claude henri grignon -- le choix (1968) -- english subtitles

The General Store in Sainte Adèle has two new owners. Young Raphael Lacour sold it in order to go teach French Literature in Montréal. Former Montréal residents and Sainte Adèle natives Theodore Bouchonneau and his wife Georgiana bought it -- thanks to a loan from Séraphin Poudrier. Since the couple can't afford to pay for a General Store clerk, former settler Adélard "Bidou" Laloge lost his job, and moved to Montréal to work in the same confectionary where Georgiana's daughter, Aurélie, works as secretary. Bidou and his wife Nanette live at Aurélie's flat, along with another boarder, her friend Noëlla, a secretary in a Montréal shoeplant. This episode, "Le choix" ("The Choosing"), has a very entertaining topic: entertainment ! Although not your tightest script, "The Choosing" achieves a quite interesting study on the emergence of mass entertainment in end-of-19th century metropolises. The days of underliterate blue collar "canadiens" are over as a new generation of bilingual white-collar workers who know how to read, write and count now occupy clerical, boring and repetitive jobs. In such a context, entertainment becomes a very seeked-upon staple. Noëlla, Aurélie's best friend, is a frequent dance-hall and theater shows fan, while the men in Sainte Adèle and Montréal crave for fishing, especially since spring is here. At the heart of this fine script by Grignon, lies the opposition between the parochial, collectively-oriented values of a needy and obedient Roman Catholic nation (pictured as the townsfolks of Sainte-Adèle), and the ideology of Puritanism (pictured as the character named Séraphin Poudrier), which allows for a part of individualistic wealth. As such, Grignon's work is strong metaphorical stuff. Under cover of a mild historical vignette, it reveals to be a witty and multilayered comment on the tensions that divide contemporary Quebec. This is unexpendable viewing for anyone who wishes to have a clear grasp on the social components of North America's next country to soon emerge, namely Québec. This episode is taken from a gigantic CBC box set of some 25 DVDs and 8 CDs of radio episodes. Unfortunately, DVD picture resolution doesn't do justice to the outdoor 16mm shooting, as 16mm film stock is capable of yielding a resolution of 720px and higher.