La Donation

A unique figure in the Quebec and Canadian cinemas, Bernard Émond, a former anthropologist and veteran documentarian, is a deeply humanist artist whose films explore questions of faith, fate, tragedy and meaning. Four of his five features to date have been Canada’s Top Ten selections: La femme qui boit (2001), 20h17, Rue Darling (2003), La neuvaine (2005) — and, now, La Donation. Yves (Jacques Godin) is a dedicated country doctor who has worked for decades in Normétal, a mining community now in decline. In declining health himself, he advertises for a replacement. Answering the call is Jeanne (Émond regular Élise Guilbault), an emergency-room physician from Montreal looking for a change in her own life. “A deeply emotional and stirring film . . . [with] stunning and knowing performances by Godin and Guilbault, two of Quebec's finest actors . . . Inspired partially by Émond's own love for the picturesque region, as well as legendary filmmaker Gilles Groulx’s documentary on the town (simply titled Normétal), La donation is a remembrance of a more pristine past, when small towns thrived on money from natural resources, and doctors made house calls . . . La Donation is a movie that moves the soul (Jesse Wente, Toronto I.F.F.). Colour, DVD, in French with English subtitles. 96 mins.