Louis 19, le roi des ondes (1994)

Director:

Michel Poulette

Writers:

Sylvie Bouchard (writer)
Émile Gaudreault (writer)

Release Date:

1 April 1994 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Louis has always had a dream, to be on television. But when he enters a contest and wins, the first...

Plot Keywords:

Television | Satire | Character Name In Title | Number In Title

Awards:

4 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Martin Drainville	...	Louis Jobin
Zenhu Han	...	Sam Ying
Chantal Fontaine	...	Reporter
Gilbert Lachance	...	Remi
Jean L'Italien	...	Roger
Dominique Michel	...	Aline Jobin
Alexandra Boulianne	...	Chanteuse de la chorale
Mireille Thibault	...	Chanteuse de la chorale
Sylvie Bouchard	...	Chanteuse de la chorale
Yves Jacques	...	Michel Gobeil
Patricia Tulasne	...	Charlotte Dubreuil
Marcela Seguel	...	Marie-Laurence Despins
Stephanie Laplante	...	Scripte t.v
Pierre Paquin	...	Realisateur t.v
Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge	...	Technicien a la regie

Also Known As:

King of the Airwaves
Louis the 19th
Louis the 19th, King of the Airwaves (Canada: English title) (video box title)
Reality Show (France)

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

Canada | France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Filming Locations:

Montréal, Québec, Canada

Company:

Eiffel Productions

Movie Connections:

References "Marcus Welby, M.D." (1969)

Why can't English Canadians make these films?

This was the most popular Canadian made movie in 1994, and it was made and shown completely to a French audience. Dubbed into English for later showing on television, it is still charming and entirely watchable, if no great work of cinema. Moreover, at least two major Hollywood productions on the exact same theme, "The Truman Show" and "Ed TV" were made well after this movie was released. But the real shame of Louis 19th is that almost all of the most popular and successful Canadian films of the past decade were made in Quebec in French for a Quebec audience. In addition to that, they proudly show off their Canadianness (in this case, by the main character talking about local children's TV shows, like the fondly remembered "Razzle Dazzle"). Meanwhile, this is the only year in a long time where there has been any really watchable films made in English Canada that are distinctly Canadian - "Duct Tape Forever" and "Men With Brooms". Meanwhile, Quebec continues year after year to turn out distinctively Canadian films like "Les Boys" (about hockey, you can't get more Canadian than that). Its not about money or talent - there are lots of great Australian films to choose from, and their industry thrives while English Canada's continues to die on the vine making cheap imitations of Hollywood movies.