The Long Winter | |
Native Name: | |
Starring: | Francis Reddy David Boutin Micheline Lanctôt Claude Gauthier |
Director: | Michel Brault |
Producer: | Anouk Brault Claudio Luca |
Cinematography: | Sylvain Brault |
Editing: | Daniel Arié |
Runtime: | 120 minutes |
Country: | Canada |
Language: | French |
Music: | François Dompierre |
The Long Winter (French: Quand je serai parti... vous vivrez encore) is a 1999 Quebec historical drama film. Directed by Michel Brault, it is a partly fictionalized account of the Lower Canada Rebellion of 1837 and 1838 which sought to make Lower Canada, now Quebec, a republic independent from the British Empire.
It features the fictional character of François-Xavier Bouchard and the factual character of François-Marie-Thomas Chevalier de Lorimier. The music was composed by François Dompierre. Film director Pierre Falardeau says that Telefilm Canada initially used the approval of Brault's film as an excuse to deny funds for the film February 15, 1839. This incited him to write a second Elvis Gratton film instead.
The main protagonist is Patriote François-Xavier Bouchard. The latter comes back to Lower Canada in the autumn of 1838 after having escaped to the United States (as a number of Patriotes did indeed), after the first uprising, in that year. As soon as he returns, despite the exhortations of his family, he joins François-Marie-Thomas Chevalier de Lorimier for another attempt. Following a hasty trial, Bouchard, Chevalier de Lorimier and others are sentenced to death.
Comedian Bruno Blanchet shot scenes for the film, but they were cut.