Imagine a gang of homeless people being offered the opportunity to leave the squalor of the Montreal streets for a few weeks for a well-deserved vacation in Bas-du-Fleuve. Louise Archambault’s new film is based on this original and very seductive idea. A summer timea dramatic comedy full of hope and tenderness.
Marc Côté (Patrice Robitaille) has been a Montreal street vicar and pastor for more than 25 years and has spent much of his life helping the poor and homeless in his neighborhood, to the point of hosting many of them at his church.
But Marc is exhausted. He can no longer pay the bills, let alone the costly maintenance and restoration work on his church. However, when he seemed ready to decide to close his church, Marc received a godsend: one of his father’s former employers bequeathed him his large country house in Bas-du-Fleuve, the region where he grew up. To distract him, Marc decides to bring a small group of homeless people who, like him, are in desperate need of a vacation. However, their arrival will unsettle some residents of the small commune of Bas-du-Fleuve.
Experienced Actors
Screenwriter Marie Vien (Arlette, La passion d’Augustine) used her years of volunteering at the Maison du Père (an organization that helps the homeless) to paint a portrait of this homeless group. While certain characters deserve more development, they are interpreted beautifully by experienced actors. We think in particular of Guy Nadon, impressive in the skin of a former lawyer-turned-wanderer, or of Martin Dubreuil, who moves in the guise of a former soldier in post-traumatic shock.
Having portrayed several marginal characters in her previous films (including Gabrielle and It Rained Birds), director Louise Archambault has found the right balance of drama and comedy to bring these topical issues (including homelessness and acceptance of others) to the fore necessary sensitivity and humanism that we know from him. She also managed to highlight the sublime landscapes of the Bas-du-Fleuve region, thus offering a soothing, summer-scented film.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5.
Le temps d’unété, a film directed by Louise Archambault and starring Patrice Robitaille, Élise Guilbault, Sébastien Ricard and Guy Nadon.