Réjeanne Padovani

Réjeanne Padovani is a Canadian drama film from Quebec, written and directed by Denys Arcand and released in 1973.[1] It was his second narrative feature film as a director, but the first for which he was also the screenwriter alongside novelist Jacques Benoît (who also wrote his previous solo effort).

An examination of political corruption,[2] the film stars Jean Lajeunesse as Vincent Padovani, a construction contractor with mafia ties who has just completed work on a major autoroute project, and is planning a major dinner party to thank the politicians who awarded him the contract. However, as the dinner approaches his plans are disrupted, both professionally by the launch of a public protest by several families whose homes were expropriated for the highway construction and personally by the return of Réjeanne (Luce Guilbeault), his ex-wife who is now married into the family of rival contractor Sam Tannenbaum (Henry Gamer).[3]

Réjeanne Padovani and Wedding in White were the only two Canadian films screened at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival.[4] The French newspaper Le Monde called Réjeanne Padovani one of the best films screened at the festival.[4] The film was a Canadian Film Award nominee for Best Feature Film at the 25th Canadian Film Awards in 1973.[5]

It was later screened at the 1984 Festival of Festivals as part of Front & Centre, a special retrospective program of artistically and culturally significant films from throughout the history of Canadian cinema.[6]

During Quebec's Charbonneau Commission inquiry into corruption in the awarding of construction contracts in the early 2010s, the film received renewed attention with some media outlets calling it "prophetic".[7]