At the Crossroads (1943 film)

At the Crossroads
Title credits
FrenchÀ la croisée des chemins
Directed byPaul Guèvremont
Written byJean-Marie Poitevin
StarringPaul Guèvremont
Denise Pelletier
Rose Rey-Duzil
Jean Fontaine
Camélienne Séguin
Denis Drouin
Lorenzo Barriteau
CinematographyPaul Morin
Edited byJean-Marie Poitevin
Music byFernand Gaudry
Distributed bySociété des Missions-Étrangères du Québec
Release date
1943 (Canada)
Running time
97 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageFrench

At the Crossroads (French: À la croisée des chemins) is a 1943 Canadian film directed by Jean-Marie Poitevin and written by Paul Guèvremont. The first dramatic feature to be produced by a Quebec religious community, the Société des Missions-Étrangères du Québec, it was narrated by René Lévesque, the future premier of Quebec.[1][2]

Plot

An image from the film, in which Jean tells his mother he intends to become a missionary

A young man, Jean Liber (Paul Guèvremont), who, at the end of his cours classique, decides to leave his rich, happy family and his fiancée, Pauline (Denise Pelletier), in order to become a missionary in China. This story of his struggle, 'at the crossroads' between love and God's calling, is clearly a pretext for a film designed to encourage young men to enter missionary work.[3][2]

Importance

À la croisée des chemins was based on a religious drama by Guy Stein, La folle aventure, which had been staged in 1942 for the 300th anniversary of the founding of Montreal.[4] Canadian film historian Peter Morris wrote: "It [the film] offers a remarkable ideological portrait of Quebec before the Quiet Revolution. Clearly apparent are the values of a lifestyle fostered by a militant Catholic Church: friendship, warmth, and an unproblematic family life. Equally apparent (at least in retrospect) are destructive self-sacrifice, repressed sexuality, and mutually sustaining links between religious and economic establishments."[3]

References

  1. ^ Wise, Wyndham (2001). Take One's Essential Guide to Canadian Film. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. p. 6. ISBN 0-8020-3512-4. Retrieved April 30, 2017.
  2. ^ a b Ramond, Charles-Henri (22 December 2012). "A la croisée des chemins – Film de Jean-Marie Poitevin". Films du Québec (in French). Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  3. ^ a b Morris, Peter (1984). The Film Companion. Toronto: Irwin Publishing. p. 1. ISBN 0-7725-1505-0.
  4. ^ Loiselle, André (2003). Stage-Bound: Feature Film Adaptations of Canadian and Québécois Drama. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press. p. 19. ISBN 0-7735-2610-2.