| Jacques and November | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Jean Beaudry François Bouvier |
| Written by | Jean Beaudry François Bouvier |
| Produced by | François Bouvier Marcel Simard |
| Starring | Jean Beaudry |
| Cinematography | Serge Giguère |
| Edited by | Jean Beaudry |
| Music by | Michel Rivard |
Release date |
|
Running time | 72 minutes |
| Country | Canada |
| Language | French |
Jacques and November (French: Jacques et novembre) is a 1984 Canadian drama film directed by Jean Beaudry and François Bouvier.[1] The film was selected as the Canadian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 58th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.[2]
The film stars Beaudry as Jacques Landry, a man in his early 30s who is dying of an unspecified incurable disease and documenting his thoughts on mortality in a video diary; simultaneously, his friend Denis (Pierre Rousseau) is trying to make a higher-budget documentary film about him.[3]
Critics largely analyzed the film not as focusing on death as such, but as an affirming and uplifting look at the meaning that friends and family bring to life.[4] Although Jacques Landry's terminal illness was not specified in the film, the LGBT magazine The Body Politic reviewed it as an HIV/AIDS allegory, directly comparing and contrasting its views of mortality with the contemporaneous HIV/AIDS-themed documentary film No Sad Songs.[5]
The film was one of two selected for the Société générale du cinéma du Québec's annual awards, alongside André Melançon's The Dog Who Stopped the War (La Guerre des tuques).[6] The award's prize consisted of a $100,000 investment in the production of the directors' next films.[7]
The film received a Genie Award nomination for Best Original Song, for Michel Rivard's "Le temps nous dépasse".[8]
