| Looking for Eternity | |
| Native Name: | |
| Director: | Robert Favreau |
| Screenplay: | Robert Favreau |
| Producer: | Marie-Andrée Vinet |
| Starring: | Marc Messier Danielle Proulx Paul Savoie |
| Music: | Marie Bernard |
| Cinematography: | Guy Dufaux |
| Editing: | Hélène Girard |
| Studio: | Les Productions du regard |
| Distributor: | Prima Films |
| Runtime: | 106 minutes |
| Country: | Canada |
| Language: | French |
Looking for Eternity (French: Portion d'éternité) is a Canadian science fiction drama film, directed by Robert Favreau and released in 1989.[1] The film stars Paul Savoie as Antoine, a doctor running a fertility clinic; after Pierre (Marc Messier) and Marie (Danielle Proulx), an infertile couple who were clients of his clinic, are killed in a car accident, he is drawn into a legal battle with Pierre's father (Gilles Pelletier), who wants their embryos destroyed, while Antoine himself wants to use them to test his theory that a form of immortality can be achieved through cloning.[2]
The cast also includes Patricia Nolin as Hélène, a government agent investigating Antoine's clinic, as well as Maryse Gagné, Raymond Cloutier, Johanne-Marie Tremblay, Daniel Gadouas, Hélène Mercier and Mark Hellman in supporting roles.
The film was Favreau's narrative feature debut, after several documentary films.[3] It premiered at the 1989 Montreal World Film Festival,[4] where it won the award for Best Canadian Film and Proulx won the award for Best Actress.[5]
Pat Donnelly of the Montreal Gazette reviewed the film negatively, writing that "at its best, Portion d'eternite is a quasi-documentary that dares to go where no legislator wants to - into the ethical questions surrounding reproductive technology. At its worst, it's a sensationalistic science-fiction téléroman on the trendy subject of in-vitro fertilization."[6]