Bernard Émond’s grim tale is about a struggling directory assistance operator who takes decisive action after falling into dire straits. Réjeane has just been downsized as a result of corporate restructuring, and this harsh blow couldn’t have come at a worse time: her husband Gilles is currently on the mend from a massive stroke and the couple desperately needs money to pay his medical bills. When Réjeane learns that the president of the company that laid her off is earning $16 million a year, the injustice off seeing so many of her co-workers rendered destitute by the downsizing lights a fuse within her that will not be extinguished. Later, while being questioned in a police interrogation room, the stoic seeker of justice proves unable to summon the words to justify her drastic actions.
Bernard Émond was born in Montréal in 1951. A trained anthropologist, he lived in the Canadian Arctic for a few years, where he worked for Inuit television. Initially a documentary filmmaker, he came to drama with a bittersweet feature film, La femme qui boit. Invited to participate in the Semaine Internationale de la Critique at the Festival de Cannes in 2001, this film raised critical acclaim in Québec and led to a number of awards for its lead actor, Élise Guilbault. Émond’s second feature, 20h17 rue Darling, was also selected for the Semaine, and enabled Luc Picard to win for best acting at the Festival International du Film Francophone de Namur. In 2005, Émond again worked with Guilbault for his film, La Neuvaine, named best Québec feature for 2005 by the Association Québécoise des Critiques de Cinéma (AQCC). This film also won three awards at the prestigious Festival Internazionale del Film in Locarno, including the Ecumenical Jury prize, and was also selected by about thirty… read more
