In the loneliness and grandeur of the midnight journey of Benoit and Antoine, there is a haunting beauty. There is a tendency to assume a movie titled “My Uncle Antoine” will be a fond memoir of a lovable old curmudgeon. Not this time. There is that in Antoine that is lovable, and that which is happy, and that which is tragic
The key action in Claude Jutra’s “Mon Oncle Antoine” (1971) takes place over a period of 24 hours in a Quebec mining town. Although the film begins earlier in the year, everything comes to a focus beginning on the morning of Christmas Eve and closing on the dawn of Christmas. During that time, a young boy has had his life forever changed. This beloved Canadian film is rich in characters, glowing with life in the midst of death.The town is Black Hawk, surrounded by the slag heaps of asbestos mines. The action is “not so very long ago,” the 1940s. The town is poor, and people still live in old-fashioned ways and travel by horse, carriage or train. The film opens with an argument between a Quebecois mine worker named Joe Paulin (Lionel Villenuve) and his English-speaking boss. We soon understand that Joe hates the “English” and hates the mine, and he quits on the spot, says farewell to his family, shoulders his ax and heads off to a logging camp where nobody will be on his case. We won’t see much of him again until the film’s conclusion.
The central story opens with a funeral, and we are given to understand that the deceased died of lung disease, contracted in the mines. The funeral is a sad affair; the dead man’s naked body is covered with a rented suit-front, the flowers are all fake, the undertaker takes back the rosary to be used again.
The undertaker is Antoine (Jean Duceppe) and his assistant is a robust man in his 30s named Fernand (Claude Jutra himself). They return after the ceremony to the general store that Antoine owns with his wife, Cecile (Olivette Thibault). Soon we meet Benoit (Jacques Gagnon), the orphaned 14-year-old who lives with them, and also the pretty young Carmen (Lyne Champagne), a clerk who boards with them.
That “Mon Oncle Antoine” is such a fine film only underlines the tragedy of the director’s later life. Jutra had started full of promise. He first studied medicine, then became a student at the National Film Board of Canada (which produced this film). He worked in France as an apprentice to Truffaut. He worked with a script by Clement Perron, who was inspired by events in his own life. Jutra made other films before learning he was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s. He disappeared in the winter of 1986, and his body was found in the St. Lawrence River the next spring. He was presumably a suicide. He made an earlier film in which the character leaps into the same river.
This store will be the principal location for the movie, and it is a masterful re-creation from the period. Groceries are on the right as you enter, dry goods on the left, hardware upstairs, along with caskets for the undertaking business. The local people all know each other’s business and meet here to gossip. On Christmas Eve, there is a festive air. Benoit and Carmen are up early to decorate the window. Benoit’s Uncle Antoine is up later, disheveled, and repairs behind the windowpanes of the store office to pour himself a little drink.
Outside on the main street, the sour-faced, hated mine owner trots in his carriage, tossing cheap Christmas stockings at the homes of his employees. Is it an accident they mostly land in the mud? The subtext of the film is that these mine workers are all treated as serfs and are working at a deadly trade. Jutra’s film was made at the height of Quebec separatism, and although it is never specific in its politics, of course they are unmistakable.
Mon oncle Antoine Full (YouTube)
Main Themes
1. Coming-of-Age
Benoît transitions from childhood to adulthood in a single night. At the beginning of the film, he observes the world with curiosity and mischief. By the end, after seeing his role model (Antoine) collapse under the weight of fear and alcohol, and witnessing the fragility of life, his perspective is forever changed.
2. Life under the "Grande Noirceur" (Great Darkness)
The film perfectly illustrates the social climate of Quebec during the Duplessis era:
The Influence of the Church: Ever-present in daily life, dictating moral and social conduct.
Economic Exploitation: The asbestos mine is owned by English-speaking interests (the "bosses"), while the French-speakers hold subordinate, dangerous positions.
Isolation: The harshness of the Canadian winter and the poverty of rural families create a sense of claustrophobia and struggle.
Upon its release, the film won eight Etrog Awards (the predecessors to the Genie Awards). In 1984, 1993, 2004, and 2015, it was ranked number one in the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) poll of the greatest Canadian films of all time.
Political Symbolism: The Asbestos Mine
While the film is primarily a personal story, the Asbestos Mine looming in the background serves as a powerful political symbol.
The 1949 Strike: The film is set shortly before the real-life 1949 Asbestos Strike, a pivotal event in Quebec history that signaled the beginning of the end for the old regime.
Dust and Decay: The white asbestos dust that covers the town and the miners’ lungs mirrors the moral decay and stifling atmosphere of the community.
Class Dynamics: The brief scene where the "English boss" throws candies from a veil to the children from his car remains one of the most famous depictions of the colonial-style economic disparity of the time.
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