Ultimatum (1973)

Directed by

Jean Pierre Lefebvre

Genre

fiction film

Country

Canada

Runtime

126h 27m

Rating

8.0 of 10 from 1 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A couple named Arthur and Charlotte find their relationship strained by the political tensions surrounding the October Crisis of 1970 in Quebec. The movie connects personal conflicts to broader issues of social obligation.

contemplativetensepoliticalgroundedpersonalbleakslow-burn

What happens

Ultimatum is a Canadian drama film, written and directed by Jean Pierre Lefebvre and released in 1973. The film stars Jean-René Ouellet and Francine Morand as Arthur and Charlotte, a couple whose relationship is affected by the political climate around the October Crisis of 1970. The cast also includes Lee J. Cobb and Franco Gasparri. According to Lefebvre, the film "tries to personalise a political experience, to interiorise a vision of an event which was completely new for Quebec, a country, which had never known an army of occupation, etc. For me the only way to politicise people is to personalise political issues". The film's ultimate theme is that one is a member of their society regardless of whether they agree or disagree with the issues being confronted within it. The film was released in November 1973, within weeks of his films Pigs Are Seldom Clean (On n'engraisse pas les cochons à l'eau claire) and The Last Betrothal (Les dernières fiançailles). Despite this it was the least-screened and least-reviewed of the three films; even upon its release, Michel Brûlé of Cinéma Québec reviewed the other two films together while virtually glossing over Ultimatum apart from a single mention. Following its premiere, the film received little further distribution except for occasional Lefebvre retrospective events. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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