Ken Scott has this knack for doing films in French and other directors wanting to do them in English. We explored this theme in Starbuck and Delivery Man last fall.
Now we have a French-Canadian film adapted for an English-Canadian audience.
La Grande Séduction | Seducing Dr. Lewis is a Ken Scott film from back in 2003 about a small Quebec fishing village that needs a doctor to get a factory since the fishing has dried up. The small community is tired of collecting welfare checks and figures getting a doctor is their ticket to jobs.
The Grand Seduction from director Don McKellar played at TIFF last fall, but skipped the Windsor festival. How does the English Canadian version match up to the original?
If you have seen Seducing Dr. Lewis, you have seen this film almost note for note. The Starbuck vs. Delivery Man comparison added several points to make it more American-friendly. The Canadian difference is more about language more than any other issue.
Delivery Man vs. Starbuck: How they compare
The key split is how the doctor is stopped and forced to come up north to the fishing village. In the Quebecois version, the doctor is from Montréal. We aren't told where the doctor is from in the English language version.
The RogerEbert.com review says the doctor is from Los Angeles. If that's true, that detail would take away part of the spirit of being about Canadians.
The doctor is played by an Canadian actor — Taylor Kitsch — from Friday Night Lights. Irish actor Brendan Gleeson has the major role as the "seducer."
The cast is mostly Canadian: you should recognize Gordon Pinsent, a Newfoundland and Labrador native, Peter Keleghan (Pinsent's real-life son-in-law), and Liane Balaban.
The doctor in the newer version is told cellphones don't work, which is more poignant in the English version. When they switch to a Habs hockey game in the film, the opponent is the Winnipeg Jets, a team that sadly did not exist in 2003.
The scenery is much prettier in the English Canadian remake. In fact, when I first saw Seducing Dr. Lewis, I thought it was shot in Newfoundland and Labrador, but that film was shot in Quebec and New Brunswick.
You can get by with this version if you haven't seen the French Canadian version. If you like subtitles, take your pick. Both films are charming, family-friendly, and showcase small-town Canada in a highly favorable fashion.
The Grand Seduction is playing in Canada and in very select cities in the United States. Hopefully, more U.S. cities will be added.
CanadianCrossing.com film reviews
La Grande Séduction won the 2004 World Cinema Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival.
The Grand Seduction was nominated in 4 categories for the Canadian Screen Awards. Pinsent won the Actor in a Supporting Role award.
CanadianCrossing.com film coverage
The New York Times gave a brief review of the film on May 29. What is more interesting was the series of corrections to the article over the original film and where it was made.
Correction: June 3, 2014
A film review on Friday about "The Grand Seduction" referred incorrectly to the film of which it is a remake. That film — "La grande séduction," also released with the title "Seducing Doctor Lewis" — was made in Quebec and is a French-language film, not a French film.
Correction: June 3, 2014
An earlier version of a picture caption with this review repeated the error about the film of which "The Grand Seduction" is a remake.
The assumption that a French-speaking film is automatically a French nation film is a mistake you would think The New York Times would not make, much less twice. The New York Times folks should read my blog much more often.
photo credit: The Grand Seduction film
I just saw this film today. I didn't realise it was a remake, now I will go look for the french film. I thought is was really good, funny. It was also a good commentary on welfare and working. It's a very honest protrayal of the plight of people in outport NL. They want to be working/fishing, but the industry was killed, so now they aren't able to. A lot of times the only option is to move away, to St. John's (town) or out of province. They want to stay, though. As for the doctor, I assumed he was from NYC or Toronto, with Toronto making more sense in terms of him being able to legally work in Canada.
There are lots of places in NL where cellphones won't work, so it's not a strange premise.
Posted by: SelahBeth | June 11, 2014 at 12:58 AM
Ah, legally work in Canada. Excellent point. I like that too.
The original Quebecois film felt like Newfoundland should be where the story took place. So that's good to see that the English language version covers that.
It's funny where the big city is St. John's as opposed to Montreal.
Glad you enjoyed the film. You should definitely find the original.
Posted by: Chad | June 11, 2014 at 01:40 PM