At the Crossroads (film)

At the Crossroads
	Title credits
	À la croisée des chemins
Directed by	Paul Guèvremont
Written by	Jean-Marie Poitevin
Starring	Paul Guèvremont; Denise Pelletier; Rose Rey-Duzil; Jean Fontaine; Camélienne Séguin; Denis Drouin; Lorenzo Barriteau
Narrated by	René Lévesque
Music by	Fernand Gaudry
Cinematography	Paul Morin
Edited by	Jean-Marie Poitevin
Distributed by	Société des Missions-Étrangères du Québec
Release date	1943 (Canada)
Running time	97 minutes
Country	Canada
Language	French

At the Crossroads (French: À la croisée des chemins) is a 1943 Canadian film directed by Jean-Marie Poitevin and written by Paul Guèvremont. The first dramatic feature to be produced by a Quebec religious community, the Société des Missions-Étrangères du Québec, it was narrated by René Lévesque, the future premier of Quebec.[1][2]

Synopsis

An image from the film, in which Jean tells his mother he intends to become a missionary

A young man, Jean Liber (Paul Guèvremont), who, at the end of his cours classique, decides to leave his rich, happy family and his finance, Pauline (Denise Pelletier), in order to become a missionary in China. This story of his struggle, 'at the crossroads' between love and God's calling, is clearly a pretext for a film designed to encourage young men to enter missionary work.[3][2]

Importance

À la croisée des chemin was based on a religious drama by Guy Stein, La folle aventure, which had been staged in 1942 for 300th anniversary of the founding of Montreal.[4] Canadian film historian Peter Morris wrote: "It [the film] offers a remarkable ideological portrait of Quebec before the Quiet Revolution. Clearly apparent are the values of a lifestyle fostered by a militant Catholic Church: friendship, warmth, and an unproblematic family life. Equally apparent (at least in retrospect) are destructive self-sacrifice, repressed sexuality, and mutually sustaining links between religious and economic establishments." [3]

References

Wise, Wyndham (2001). Take One's Essential Guide to Canadian Film. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. p. 6. ISBN 0-8020-3512-4. Retrieved April 30, 2017.
Ramond, Charles-Henri (22 December 2012). "A la croisée des chemins – Film de Jean-Marie Poitevin". Films du Québec (in French). Retrieved 1 May 2017.
Morris, Peter (1984). The Film Companion. Toronto: Irwin Publishing. p. 1. ISBN 0-7725-1505-0.
Loiselle, André (2003). Stage-Bound: Feature Film Adaptations of Canadian and Québécois Drama. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press. p. 19. ISBN 0-7735-2610-2.

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[1] Wise, Wyndham (2001). Take One's Essential Guide to Canadian Film. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. p. 6. ISBN 0-8020-3512-4. Retrieved April 30, 2017.

[Ramond-2] Ramond, Charles-Henri (22 December 2012). "A la croisée des chemins – Film de Jean-Marie Poitevin". Films du Québec (in French). Retrieved 1 May 2017.

[The_Film_Companion-3] Morris, Peter (1984). The Film Companion. Toronto: Irwin Publishing. p. 1. ISBN 0-7725-1505-0.

[4] Loiselle, André (2003). Stage-Bound: Feature Film Adaptations of Canadian and Québécois Drama. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press. p. 19. ISBN 0-7735-2610-2.