- À Hauteur d'homme
Infobox Film
name = À Hauteur d'homme
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director =Jean-Claude Labrecque
producer =
writer = Jean-Claude Labrecque
narrator =
starring =Bernard Landry
music =
cinematography =
editing =
distributor =
released =November 11 ,2003
runtime = 95 min.
country =Canada
language = French
budget =
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website =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0401907"À Hauteur d'homme" is a Canadian political documentary directed in 2003 by
Jean-Claude Labrecque aboutBernard Landry and the 2003 general election inQuebec ,Canada . It won aJutra Award for "Best Documentary" (tie) in 2004. Its style belongs to the Quebec cinéma direct school offilm making.Overview
"À Hauteur d'homme" is a political documentary film revolving first around one man,
Bernard Landry , leader of theParti Québécois (PQ), and second around the re-election campaign of his party in 2003. The movie shows an intimate, never-before-seen look at the works of an election campaign. The finality of the story, the defeat of the party, gives this work a mood of tragedy, but with final acceptance. It also features, amongst others, Landry's girlfriend,Chantal Renaud , and press attachéHubert Bolduc .Landry, the protagonist, is an
independentist ,social democrat ,Premier of Quebec , fighting for the re-election of the Parti Québécois in the hope of obtaining his life's dream: the independence of Quebec from Canada. His opponents in the election,Jean Charest of theParti Libéral du Québec (PLQ) andMario Dumont of theAction démocratique du Québec (ADQ), are rarely seen in the film.Along with his team, he goes through an intense experience in two periods. The first half of the campaign goes smoothly: Landry is relaxed and confident. After having fought for its very life, the party is popular again and leads the polls. The televised leaders' debate is the turning point. During the debate, Charest confronts Landry with a quotation (said that very day and soon to become controversial) from
Jacques Parizeau , the former PQ premier. In the following days, this sparks a controversy that will be known as theParizeau Affair . From then on, a second period begins. The PQ loses some steam. Charest slowly surpasses him in the polls.Often trapped by insistent, forceful questions by
reporter s, he shares with the team his impression that journalists are unjustly harassing him and the party's campaign. After being, in turn, anxious, angry, and sometimes morose, he accepts the coming ineluctable defeat with serenity, but with much emotion, with the comfort of his loved ones and colleagues.The documentary features the following politicians:
Pauline Marois ,André Boisclair andFrançois Legault .Landry's strategist team is consisted of:
Richard Nadeau ,Brigitte Pelletier ,Hubert Bolduc ,Denis Hardy ,Frederic Alberro ,Marie-Johanne Nadeau ,Nathalie Verger ,Pierre Langlois ,Éric Côté andJacques Wilkins .Context
:"Main article:"
Quebec general election, 2003 In 2002, the poll numbers for the Parti Québécois fell sharply. The PQ government had been in power for two mandates and was seen as worn-out by some. An important part of the PQ's support went to the
Action Démocratique du Québec and its young leader,Mario Dumont , and some to the Liberal Party of Quebec. It is under this dramatic situation for the PQ followers that Landry underwent a revitalization of the party and its image. The PQ was aided by the fall popularity of the ADQ's ideas as their conservative nature was uncovered, and by social democratic measures taken by the PQ government like the passing of theAct to combat poverty and social exclusion . The Parti Québécois succeeded in gaining back popularity in the beginning of 2004 to take the lead in the public opinion polls again. The PQ felt confident again to take upon a singular task: to become the first Quebec government in more than forty years to win a third mandate.It is at the time of the downfall of 2002 that Labrecque decided to work on bringing about a movie about the coming election. He stated that, for this election, he believed the PQ had a lot to win if it succeeded, and a lot to lose if it did not: the re-election of the party could bring Quebec to independence, while a loss had the potential of hurting the sovereigntist movement, perhaps halting it for years.
The 2003 Quebec election itself happened over the backdrop of the war in Iraq. The principal battles in that war took place during the first half of the campaign, diverting the attention of the media and the population. Landry became known for his custom of wearing the
white ribbon worn by Quebecers in favour of peace. The wearing of this ribbon was soon adopted by the two other main party leaders, Charest and Dumont.Despite a PQ comeback, Charest presented himself as a viable alternative for people in desire of change, especially during the leaders' debate. Also, the Parizeau Affair is said to have harmed Landry's campaign up to election day.Fact|date=May 2008 The PQ lead vanished mid-campaign, and the Parti Libéral won the election.
Impact
A week before its theatre opening, "À Hauteur d'homme" gained much media attention.Fact|date=May 2008 The animosity between Landry and the press within the movie, along with the occasional swearing of Landry in Quebec
joual , was noted by many journalists.Fact|date=May 2008 Some reporters considered Landry's reactions to the attitude of the press to be excessive.Fact|date=May 2008 Also, the few swear words of Landry from the movie were played in loop on news channels.The publicity acquired by the initial controversy partly assured the movie an immense success in theatres. In its first days, at the Ex-Centris theatre, where it was first shown in Montreal, the movie was often sold-out several hours before presentation. After it had opened, the consensus of the viewing public (along with the opinion of some critics and other journalists) was that the initial media presentation of the movie was misrepresentative of the complete work.Fact|date=May 2008 The movie managed to spark public debate in the media about the (often described as unfair and aggressive) attitudes of Quebec journalists towards politicians and politics (and vice versa).
The movie also inscribed a
catch phrase into Quebecpop culture :Audi alteram partem . During the movie, the sentence,Latin for "listen to the other side", was repeatedly uttered by Landry to counteract the barrage of questions from reporters about the Parizeau Affair. It was meant to tell the reporters not to judge Parizeau before hearing his side (he was to give apress conference later that day) and to signify that he wished to wait for Parizeau to speak before making himself hasty comments. Landry studied Latin in college and has a reputation of liking to quote Latin phrases.The way Landry acts in this movie surprised many. Landry is seen as a man of pride and high culture by many Quebecers, something that sometimes puts a distance between a public figure and the people in Quebec. Rather than hurting his reputation, his Québécois swearing broke that
bourgeois image in some ways.Fact|date=May 2008 Also, his sense ofhumour and humanity throughout the movie was felt by many viewers.Fact|date=May 2008 Those seldom before seen aspects of the man subsequently inspired a popular wave of sympathy for him.Fact|date=May 2008Production
Critics praised the work for its evocative, classy musical ambiance, and its lavish visual style.Fact|date=May 2008
General
For months, Landry was filmed everywhere he went, up to voting day. The fact that a
politician had accepted to be filmed in such privacy impressed many and was therefore seen as an historical feat: few other movies have had such access to a political figure before.Audio
These two previously existing (that is to say that they were not created for the movie soundtrack) musical compositions of the
soundtrack are the backbone of the musical backdrop of the film. Audio excerpts from Amazon.com.
*"Facades" byPhilip Glass returns inleitmotiv throughout the movie. It was chosen by Labrecque for its repetitive nature, representative of the 2003 political campaign in some ways.
*"Fur Alina" byArvo Pärt and its very melancholic ambiance is used in the final scene where Landry conceded defeat and is comforted by the people close to him.Visuals
It is rare for such emphasis be placed on attention to visual beauty in a documentary, especially a political one. This has brought much admiration for the work. It can be stated that Labrecque made it a point to show Landry as a human being with often very intimate, tight shots, breaking the standard of the
news channel waist shot ortalking head s type of clips that politicians are mostly seen through.Other version
Labrecque has always said that his favourite version of the film was the cut of over three hours (this version is 104 minutes long). He has stated that he plans to one day send this version to the wide screen.Fact|date=May 2008
ee also
*
Cinema of Quebec
*Cinéma direct
*Culture of Quebec
*List of Quebec movies
*National Question
*Politics of Quebec
*Quebec general election, 2003
*Quebec nationalism
*Quebec sovereigntismExternal links
* [http://www.christalfilms.com/video/fiche/112/index.html Official site at Christal Films] fr
* [http://www.radio-canada.ca/nouvelles/dossiers/labrecque/ SRC dossier] fr
*imdb title|id=0401907|title=À Hauteur d'homme
* [http://www.assnat.qc.ca/fra/membres/notices/j-l/lanb1.shtml Profile of Bernard Landry at the National Assembly of Quebec website]
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