The Torrent (2012 film)

The Torrent (French: Le torrent) is a Canadian drama film, directed by Simon Lavoie and released in 2012.[1] An adaptation of Anne Hébert's novella Le Torrent,[2] the film centres on the life of François (played by Anthony Therrien as a child and Victor Andrés Trelles Turgeon as an adult), a man who was raised by his devoutly religious and abusive mother Claudine (Dominique Quesnel).[3] Left deaf when his refusal to obey her demand that he enter the seminary to become a Catholic priest led Claudine to hit him on the head, he has continued to live in rural isolation, and struggles to establish human connection when he purchases Amica (Laurence Leboeuf), a woman being sold into slavery who is eerily similar to his mother in her youth.[4]

The Torrent
Film poster
FrenchLe torrent
Directed bySimon Lavoie
Written bySimon Lavoie
Based onLe Torrent
1950 book
by Anne Hébert
Produced byJacques Blain
Sylvain Corbeil
StarringVictor Andrés Trelles Turgeon
Dominique Quesnel
Laurence Leboeuf
CinematographyMathieu Laverdière
Edited byNicolas Roy
Music byNormand Corbeil
Production
company
Lusio Films
Release date
  • October 15, 2012 (2012-10-15) (FNC)
Running time
152 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageFrench

The film premiered at the Festival du nouveau cinéma in October 2012.[5]

The film received six Prix Jutra nominations at the 15th Jutra Awards in 2013, for Best Actor (Trelles Turgeon), Best Actress (Quesnel), Best Art Direction (Éric Barbeau), Best Cinematography (Mathieu Laverdière), Best Original Music (Normand Corbeil) and Best Sound (Luc Boudrias, Marcel Chouinard and Patrice Leblanc).[6]

Plot summary

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Cast

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References

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  1. ^ Charles-Henri Ramond, "Torrent, Le – Film de Simon Lavoie". Films du Québec, September 23, 2012.
  2. ^ Manon Dumais, "Le torrent : La mère". Voir, October 25, 2012.
  3. ^ Brendan Kelly, "Dark, provocative story astonishingly powerful; Slow-moving tale brought to life by terrific cast". Montreal Gazette, October 26, 2012.
  4. ^ Jean-François Hamel, "Récit d’une dépossession / Le Torrent de Simon Lavoie". Ciné-Bulles, Volume 31, Number 1 (Winter 2013). pp. 22–25.
  5. ^ Chantal Guy, "Le torrent: filmer l'indomptable". La Presse, October 13, 2012.
  6. ^ "Jutra : Laurence anyways et Rebelle en tête des nominations". Ici Radio-Canada, January 31, 2013.
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