The Art Snob Archive

Québécois - Feb 16 2007

What’s the deal with English Canada, anyway? We win the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, control most of the country’s oil, produce Lester B. Pearson, and yet the most successful movie we can create in 2006 is one starring the Trailer Park Boys? I like documentaries, I’ll admit, but that fellow with the glasses was a bit surreal.

It is times like this, dear readers, that I thank God our country balances trepitdatiously on a fine multicultural wire. When our artistic cred is lacking, we can always fall back on the French.

Quebec has benefited largely from its connection to the artistic utopia that is France, land of the Louvre, and in turn profits from my lack of knowledge about the reality of artistic life in the province. The fact that they speak the language of cultural sophistication is good enough for me to make bold all-encompassing statements, such as the following:

I don’t think we realize how lucky we are that Trudeau was able to hold it together during the FLQ crisis. If only more of our leaders were willing to suspend/sacrifice/demolish civil liberties in order to maintain the country’s artistic integrity.

Really, though, I bring this up because earlier this week the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television hosted the Genies…and no one cared. This Sunday, however, Radio-Canada Télévision will broadcast La Soirée des Jutra, and the world will be watching.

The “Jutra Awards” (translated into English for the unwashed masses) were established in 1999 to honour Quebec cinema, which has come to dominate Canadian domestic film production since David Cronenberg became “Mr. Hollywood”. English Canada’s interest in the Genie Awards has waned since all the major prizes started going to obscure French films no one had ever heard of, and since many French Canadians seem to have an aversion to any sort of ‘national’ event it only makes sense they would break away and start their own awards show.

The Prix Jutra is named after influential Québécois filmmaker Claude Jutra, who lived the ideal artist’s life by garnering critical admiration for his work (1971’s Mon oncle Antoine, specifically), retreating into indulgent obscurity, and then proceeding to commit suicide. The Award is intended to celebrate this legacy of innovation and artistic self-sacrifice in filmmaking (although self-sacrifice is not a prerequisite of victory).

The Jutra’s real charm in the eyes of an arts snob is the fact that it’s basically a Canadian recreation of the most important category of the Academy Awards: an entire ceremony devoted to the celebration of foreign language films! Of course, French technically isn’t a “foreign” language in Canada, but if they’re going to make such a fuss about being a “distinct society” I’m going to take the liberty of labeling their language as “distinct”.

Quebec Cinema is renowned for its successful adoption of the European-brand of auteur filmmaking. This director-centric approach means that Canadian French-language films are rarely commercially successful, which is a bonus for the cultural elitist. An exception this year is Bon Cop Bad Cop, which made $12 million domestically (although most of it was in Quebec). Luckily, the Jutra’s indie cred is salvaged by movies like Un dimanche Kigali, a drama set in Rwanda, and La Vie secréte des gens heureux, undoubtedly about the secret life of happy people. You see, listen to how intellectual I sound repeating those titles! How delightful!

My dear readers, not enough weight is placed on the artistic importance of Quebec’s union with Canada; the Jutras illuminate this crucial factor. For the sake of culture, for our national integrity, vive un Canada uni!

posted by HLL @ Friday, February 16, 2007