Kamouraska (film)


Kamouraska is a 1973 Québécois film directed by Claude Jutra, based on the novel by Anne Hébert, who also worked as screenwriter. It won four Canadian Film Awards, for Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Art Direction and a Special Award.

Synopsis

The film is set in rural Québec in the 1830s.
Élisabeth is at the deathbed of her second husband Jérôme recounting her past, conveyed through a series of flashbacks; her first marriage to Antoine, the brutish Seigneur of Kamouraska, and her ensuing love affair with a loyalist American doctor George Nelson which leads to the brutal murder of Antoine, her trial for complicity and acquittal, her loveless marriage to Jérôme to save her honour.

Cast

A slow-moving but beautiful film shot by cinematographer Michel Brault, it cost nearly $1 million, making it the most expensive Canadian film to date. Poorly reviewed by critics, it was a modest commercial success in Canada and was not a major release in France and the United States.
Henry Herx gave it a mixed review in his Family Guide to Movies on Video: "he movie captures a vanished era, has excellent acting and the beauty of its settings but its story of hot passion in a cold climate is heavily melodramatic."