Pour la suite du monde


Pour la suite du monde is a 1963 Canadian documentary film produced by the National Film Board of Canada and directed by Michel Brault, Marcel Carrière and Pierre Perrault. It is the first of Perrault's Isle-aux-Coudres Trilogy, followed by The Times That Are in 1967, and The River Schooners in 1968.

Synopsis

The film is a work of ethnofiction. It shows life in a small isolated community, when the influence of the Catholic Church in Quebec was still strong.
For centuries the inhabitants of Ile-aux-Coudres, a small island in the St. Lawrence River, trapped beluga whales by sinking a weir of saplings into the offshore mud at low tide. After 1920, the practice was abandoned. In 1962, a team of National Film Board of Canada filmmakers led by director Perrault and cinematographer Brault arrived on the island to make a cinéma-vérité documentary about the people and their isolated life. They encouraged the islanders to revive the practice of beluga fishing. The live animal they caught was then driven on a truck to an aquarium in New York City.
The film also shows the daily life of the islanders, and their celebrations, such as the festival at mid-Lent.

Cast

  • Léopold Tremblay as Marchand and president of the new beluga fishing co.
  • Alexis Tremblay as Cultivateur et politicien
  • Abel Harvey as Capitaine et maître de pêche
  • Louis Harvey as Cultivateur et chantre d'église
  • Joachim Harvey as Capitaine du Nord de l'Île
  • Stanley Jackson as Narrator

Production

The film was shot in L'Isle-aux-Coudres and New York between 1961 and 1962, on a budget of $80,000.

Alternate English versions and titles

The film has been screened in various versions and with no less than four English-language titles. At its 1963 Cannes premiere, it was billed as For Those Who Will Follow. The NFB has also promoted the film in English as Of Whales, the Moon and Men or The Moontrap, depending upon whether it was the 105-minute or 84-minute version, respectively. The release of a 2007 "Île-aux-Coudres Trilogy" DVD trilogy also translates the film title as For the Ones to Come.
The film is commonly referred to simply as Pour la suite du monde in both French and English.

Reception

The film premiered at the Loew's International Film Festival on 4 August 1963. It was hugely popular in Quebec, and today is recognized as a classic of Canadian cinema. Pour la suite du monde has been consistently ranked by critics as one of the best ever made and it represents a major development in the direct cinema movement, moving away from simple observation to a more immediate participation and a great emphasis on the words of the people portrayed.
It was the first Canadian film to be shown at competition at the Cannes Film Festival. It was also the first Quebec film shown at the festival.
Quebecois filmmaker Denis Villeneuve declares that Perrault's "Île-aux-Coudres Trilogy" is "amongst the most beautiful films he has ever seen". It remains a major source of inspiration and influence for him.

Awards

Works cited

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