Your humble narrator has seen a lot of Canadian entries to the Best International Feature Film for someone who doesn't live in Canada and doesn't speak French really well. With the announcement tomorrow of the Oscars shortlist in this category, we wanted to take a look back at the films Canada has nominated.
Canada first submitted a film to the Academy Awards in what was the Best Foreign Language Film category with Mon Oncle Antoine (1971). Canada skipped a few years in the 1970s; the country has submitted a film every year since 1979.
Your humble narrator has a current streak seeing every entry since 2003 with Les Invasions barbares, the only Canadian film to win this Oscar.
There are 16 Canadian films on the list (not counting the newest entry) that I have not seen: 7 of them before Le Déclin de l'empire américain (1986), the first Canadian film to reach the Oscars shortlist, 7 of them between that film and Cosmos (1997), and 2 since 1997.
| Year | Title | English title | Director |
| 1972 | La Vraie nature de Bernadette | The True Nature of Bernadette | Gilles Carle |
| 1979 | Mourir à tue-tête | A Scream from Silence | Anne Claire Poirier |
| 1981 | Les Plouffe | The Plouffe Family | Gilles Carle |
| 1982 | Les Fleurs savages | Wild Flowers | Jean Pierre Lefebvre |
| 1983 | Bonheur d'occasion | The Tin Flute | Claude Fournier |
| 1984 | Sonatine | Sonatine | Micheline Lanctôt |
| 1985 | Jacques et novembre | Jacques and November | François Bouvier and Jean Beaudry |
Gilles Carle has a strong reputation as an early force in commercial Canadian film. La Vraie nature de Bernadette has been high on my list of Canadian films. Sonatine is also high on the list being a huge fan of Pascale Bussières.
Older Canadian films, such as from this era, are really difficult to find. Have been quite surprised to find the ones that I have seen from this time.
Canadians should be able to find some of these films somewhere.
| Year | Title | English title | Director |
| 1987 | Un Zoo la Nuit | Night Zoo | Jean-Claude Lauzon |
| 1988 | Les portes tournantes | The Revolving Doors | Francis Mankiewicz |
| 1990 | Une histoire inventée | An Imaginary Tale | André Forcier |
| 1991 | A Bullet in the Head | A Bullet in the Head | Attila Bertalan |
| 1994 | Mon amie Max | My Friend Max | Michel Brault |
| 1995 | Le Confessional | The Confessional | Robert Lepage |
| 1996 | Sous-sol | Not Me! | Pierre Gang |
Le Confessional is intriguing in that Kristin Scott-Thomas is in the cast. She is fluent in French. That film is the first of 2 on the list from Robert Lepage along with La face cachée de la lune | Far Side of the Moon (2004).
Subtitles aren't as much of an issue for A Bullet in the Head since the dialogue is from an invented language.
Jean-Claude Lauzon, director of Un Zoo la Nuit, also directed Leolo (1992) on the list. Lauzon only directed 2 feature films, both on the Oscars list, before his fatal plane accident in 1997.
Michel Brault, one of the Quebecois film greats, is also on the list with Mon amie Max as well as Les Ordres (1975) as well as his cinematography work on such films on the list as Mon Oncle Antoine (1971) and Les Bons débarras (1980).
| Year | Title | English title | Director |
| 1999 | Emporte-moi | Set Me Free | Léa Pool |
| 2002 | Un crabe dans la tête | Soft Shell Man | André Turpin |
Your humble narrator has seen a few Léa Pool films. Would love to find more of her older work. We've seen Lost and Delirious (2001), Maman est chez le coiffeur | Mommy Is at the Hairdresser's (2008), La Passion d'Augustine | The Passion of Augustine (2015), and Worst Case, We Get Married (2017). Pool directed Karine Vanasse as the daughter in Emporte-Moi and the mother in Worst Case, We Get Married.
Un crabe dans la tête falls into the category of odd, quirky Canadian films that draw my interest. I might not like it but want to see the film for myself.
Top 10 Canadian films I still want to see
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CanadianCrossing.com film coverage
There isn't a realistic hope of seeing all 16 films on the list. Living in Montréal or Quebec City with access to film archives would give me a chance at some. The top 5 of earnest interest to watch would be:
- La Vraie nature de Bernadette (1972)
- Sonatine (1984)
- Un Zoo la nuit (1987)
- Emporte-moi (1999)
- Un crabe dans la tête (2002)
Lists are great but you shouldn't watch a film just because that film is on a list, even one for the Oscars. War Witch was good but hard to watch. Chien de Garde was a terrible film. Hochelaga terre des âmes had good intentions but a lot of disconnect. J.A. Martin photographe was slower than a 1970s bottle of Heinz ketchup.
There have been some really great films on the list: all 4 from Denys Arcand, 3 from Xavier Dolan, the 2 from Denis Villeneuve, C.R.A.Z.Y., Monsieur Lazhar, The Necessities of Life, and so many more.
Here is a full list of the Canadian entries for Best International Feature Film that I have seen.
1971 Mon oncle Antoine Claude Jutra
1975 Les Ordres Michel Brault
1977 J.A. Martin photographe Jean Beaudin
1980 Les Bons débarras | Good Riddance Francis Mankiewicz
1986 Le Déclin de l'empire américain | The Decline of the American Empire Denys Arcand*
1989 Jésus de Montréal Denys Arcand*
1992 Léolo Jean-Claude Lauzon
1993 Le Sexe des étoiles | The Sex of the Stars Paule Baillargeon
1997 Cosmos Jennifer Alleyn, Manon Briand, Marie-Julie Dallaire, Arto Paragamian, André Turpin, Denis Villeneuve
1998 Un 32 août sur terre | August 32nd on Earth Denis Villeneuve
2000 Maelström Denis Villeneuve
2001 Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner Zacharias Kunuk
2003 The Barbarian Invasions Les Invasions barbares Denys Arcand+
2004 La face cachée de la lune | Far Side of the Moon Robert Lepage
2005 C.R.A.Z.Y. Jean-Marc Vallée
2006 Water Deepa Mehta*
2007 L'Âge des ténèbres | Days of Darkness Denys Arcand**
2008 Ce qu'il faut pour vivre | The Necessities of Life Benoît Pilon**
2009 J'ai tué ma mère | I Killed My Mother Xavier Dolan
2010 Incendies Denis Villeneuve*
2011 Monsieur Lazhar Philippe Falardeau*
2012 War Witch | Rebelle Kim Nguyen*
2013 Gabrielle Louise Archambault
2014 Mommy Xavier Dolan
2015 Félix et Meira Maxime Giroux
2016 It's Only the End of the World | Juste la fin du monde Xavier Dolan**
2017 Hochelaga, Land of Souls | Hochelaga terre des âmes François Girard
2018 Family First | Chien de garde Sophie Dupuis
2019 Antigone Sophie Deraspe
2020 14 Days, 12 Nights | 14 jours, 12 nuits Jean-Philippe Duval
- + Oscar winner; * Top 5 cut; **-- shortlist
photo credit: La Vraie nature de Bernadette film
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