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L'ange et la femme [The Angel and the Woman] (Gilles Carle, 1977)
Dec
3
Gabriel (Lewis Furey) and the woman he named Fabienne (Carole Laure). DP: François Protat.
A caregiver*
A woman is brutally murdered and taken home by a young man. This man – this angel – takes away her wounds, returns her to life, and nurses her. They fall in love.
* the Bales 2025 Film Challenge for December has a few dateless themes. This is one of them.
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La maudite galette [Dirty Money] (Denys Arcand, 1972)
Jun
16
Berthe (Luce Guilbeault) points a rifle offscreen. Next to her a perpetual wall calendar from Desjardins with the date. It's June 16. DP: Alain Dostie.
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La maudite galette [Dirty Money] (Denys Arcand, 1972)
Jun
1
Oscar the Grouch Day
Rolland (René Caron) and Berthe (Luce Guilbeault). She's had it with these money troubles. DP: Alain Dostie.
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La maudite galette [Dirty Money] (Denys Arcand, 1972)
Aug
2
At a depressing, fluorescent-lit bar, men gathered at small round tables smoke and drink. A single man in a brightly lit phone booth places a call. DP: Alain Dostie.
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The Disappearance (Stuart Cooper, 1977)
Jun
21
cereal
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Françoise Durocher, Waitress (André Brassard, 1972)
May
21
lunch break
Waitress Françoise Durocher, this may be Luce Guilbeault, on her lunch break. DP: Thomas Vámos.
“One grilled cheese, two slices of toast, two coffees. One pepper steak no chili and a plate of spaghetti and meatballs. Two glasses of milk. One plate of spare ribs. A chicken in a basket with three cups of honey. One lean smoked meat sandwich with pickles and mustard. One two-cream coffee and two club sandwiches. Two clubs.”
– Françoise Durocher
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Le temps d'une chasse [The Time of a Hunt / Once Upon a Hunt] (Francis Mankiewicz, 1972)
Sep
1
National Hotel Employee Day
One of the men following Monique, one of the hotel employees (Luce Guilbeault, simply credited as “La Rousse”, “the redhead”) down the corridor. The young waitress (Frédérique Collin) can be seen in the door opening at the end of the hallway. DP: Michel Brault.
Le temps d'une chasse is the definition of unease. It starts at dawn, when two old friends pick up their buddy Richard (Marcel Sabourin) from the home he shares with his wife and son. The son, the wife insists, comes along. The men have planned a #hunting trip, in a cabin far away from #Montréal, far away from everything, with a beer-filled cooler at hand. The last they need is an underage kid towing along. But the boy comes along, she insists. With a trunk full of Dutch courage and a mouthful of boasting, the men find themselves at a hotel instead of the expected cabins.
“Tomorrow morning we'll get up early.”
Hotel days are short and its nights long and booze-filled, commanding their own temptation and regret.
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Le temps d'une chasse [Once Upon a Hunt / The Time of a Hunt] (Francis Mankiewicz, 1972)
Jul
17
after hours coffee
A Hopperesque glimpse through a corridor reveals a young woman (Frédérique Collin) sitting at a mostly empty dinner table. There are two coffee cups and a fruit bowl, and a bare bulb hanging from the ceiling. DP: Michel Brault.
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Françoise Durocher, Waitress (André Brassard, 1972)
Feb
9
freebie: Customer Service Day
23 actresses and one person in drag play the part of Québécois waitress Françoise Durocher in seven monologues.
“One grilled cheese, two slices of toast, two coffees. One pepper steak no chili and a plate of spaghetti and meatballs. Two glasses of milk. One plate of spare ribs. A chicken in a basket with three cups of honey. One lean smoked meat sandwich with pickles and mustard. One two-cream coffee and two club sandwiches. Two clubs.”
– Françoise Durocher
Watch the short on the NFB website.
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