Emile (2003)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Carl Bessai

Writer:

Carl Bessai (written by)

Release Date:

9 January 2004 (Canada)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

In a story weaving the past and present together, Emile seeks redemption from the family he abandoned.

Plot Keywords:

Magic Realism | Saskatchewan | Flashback | Victoria British Columbia | Brother Brother Relationship

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Ian McKellen	...	Emile
Deborah Kara Unger	...	Nadia
Tygh Runyan	...	Freddy
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Frank Borg	...	Taxi Driver
Theo Crane	...	Maria / Nadia (age 10)
Chris William Martin	...	Carl
Nancy Sivak	...	Superintendent
Ian Tracey	...	Tom
Janet Wright	...	Alice

Also Known As:

Émile (Canada: French title)

MPAA:

Rated R for language.

Runtime:

Canada:95 min (Toronto International Film Festival) | USA:92 min

Country:

Canada | UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:12 | UK:15 | Brazil:10 | Canada:14A | USA:R | Finland:K-11

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Company:

BV International Pictures

Trivia:

While in British Columbia, Ian McKellen developed an obsession with Beaver Tails - a long donut with sugar on it. He told the director that his character had to have a line with "beaver tails" in it, which is how that piece of dialogue got into the movie

Goofs:

Errors in geography: The film was shot in British Columbia but some parts of the action are set in Saskatchewan. In one Saskatchewan scene, there are mountains on the horizon. There are no mountains in (or visible from) Saskatchewan.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Weird Sex and Snowshoes: A Trek Through the Canadian Cinematic Psyche (2004) (TV)

Easy to identify with

I liked the movie a lot more than I expected. Not that I thought it was going to be a bad movie, but I had no real concept of what I'd think of it so really enjoying it was a nice surprise. We had heard it was slow, but I actually found it to be quite gripping and as such it didn't appear slow at all. At first it was a little distracting watching the movie with Ian McKellen two rows behind us and a couple of seats along, but my focus settled down as we got further in. Not particularly helped by the antarctic blasts of cold coming from the air conditioning right in front of me. I'm lucky I didn't die of hypothermia before the end of the evening. The movie was much more easily identified with than you might expect, being a movie about a 65 year old man and me being anything but. The theme was something I think can get to anyone and what really got me was the story of Emile leaving his two brothers behind and what happened to them subsequently. I think anyone who moves away from their family can understand the need to separate and how easy it can be to let that separation become too vast. As someone who has never lost a close member of my family, and lives in vague terror of the day it finally happens (as it must do unless I'm hit by a bus in the near future), I found the movie very touching and even teared up a couple of times. On a less precise scale, Emile's flaw was that he ran away from responsibility and difficulty and as a result never really lived his life, as far as we can tell. It's always easy to tell ourselves that what we're doing is for the best, but often that can be an excuse for not doing something that seems too hard.

The only flaw I would pick with the movie is that occasionally the music was a little too much. Aside from that the acting was excellent, the script was excellent and the shooting was beautifully done. I think a lot more people will find something to associate with in this movie than might think they would. Have you ever moved away from home? Have you ever not kept in touch when you knew you should? Have you ever been hurt by or betrayed a family member?