The Men (1971 film)

The Men
FrenchLes Mâles
Directed byGilles Carle
Written byGilles Carle
Produced byLouise Ranger
StarringDonald Pilon
René Blouin
Andrée Pelletier
CinematographyRené Verzier
Edited byGilles Carle
Music byStéphane Venne
Production
company
Onyx Films
Distributed byFrance Film
Release date
  • March 3, 1971 (1971-03-03)
Running time
113 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageFrench

The Men (French: Les Mâles) is a Canadian crime comedy film, written and directed by Gilles Carle and released in 1971.[1] The film centres on Jean (Donald Pilon) and Émile (René Blouin), a lumberjack and a student who have been living off the grid in the wilderness, who decide that they need a woman to join them and head into town to look for one.[2] They resort to kidnapping Dolores (Katerine Mousseau), a prison guard who is the daughter of the village police chief, leading the villagers to mount a vigilante mob to capture Jean and Émile and bring them to justice.[3]

The film's cast also includes Andrée Pelletier and Guy L'Écuyer.

Martin Knelman of The Globe and Mail reviewed the film favourably, writing that "At his most brilliant, Carle achieves a form of comedy that's part Rabelaisian and part Keystone Kops, but just under the surface of slapstick raucousness there's a sense of desperation, of despair on the brink of violence and defeat. This double-sighted attitude is what gives Carle's movies their peculiar comic edge and their self-propelling energy."[3]

Reception

The film was seen by 302,950 people in France.[4]

References

  1. ^ Gerald Pratley, A Century of Canadian Cinema. Lynx Images, 2003. ISBN 1-894073-21-5. p. 143.
  2. ^ Jacques Siclier, "'Les Mâles', de Gilles Carle". Le Monde, May 20, 1972.
  3. ^ a b Martin Knelman, "Les Males: Carle's slapstick celebration of Quebec society". The Globe and Mail, June 17, 1972.
  4. ^ Marshall 2001, p. 85.

Works cited


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