Straight to the Heart (1968 film)

Straight to the Heart (French: Jusqu'au cœur) is a Canadian drama film, directed by Jean Pierre Lefebvre and released in 1968.[1] The film stars Robert Charlebois as Garou, a committed pacifist who is detained by mysterious authorities who try to brainwash him into supporting and defending war, and Claudine Monfette as his girlfriend.[2]

Straight to the Heart
FrenchJusqu'au cœur
Directed byJean Pierre Lefebvre
Written byJean Pierre Lefebvre
Produced byClément Perron
StarringRobert Charlebois
Claudine Monfette
CinematographyThomas Vámos
Edited byMarguerite Duparc
Music byRobert Charlebois
Production
company
Release date
1968
Running time
93 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageFrench

Following its Canadian theatrical premiere in 1968, the film was screened in the Director's Fortnight stream at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival.[3]

Critical analysis

Jay Scott of The Globe and Mail would later describe the film as "a confluence of Godard and the Antonioni of Blow Up", writing that "it is relentlessly experimental and gives the lie to the accusation that Lefebvre cannot pace his films rapidly".[4] Peter Harcourt of the Canadian Film Institute wrote that "complex in its construction, Jusqu'au cœur seems simplistic in its conclusion. Though an interesting film, it can perhaps endure a cursory treatment. Its chief value may lie in the techniques discovered through the course of making this highly 'experimental' film — techniques that are more personally and more subtly employed in both La Chambre blanche and Ultimatum."[5]

Film historian Thomas Waugh later analyzed the film as an early advance in LGBTQ representation in Canadian film. Although not addressing an LGBTQ-themed story, the film includes two brief scenes of same-sex couples (one each male and female) kissing, a practice which was then rare in cinema.[6]

References
  1. "Première du film «Jusqu'au coeur»". Bilan du siècle (Université de Sherbrooke).
  2. Wendy Michener, "On location with Lefebvre". The Globe and Mail, April 3, 1968.
  3. Charles-Henri Ramond, "Les films québécois à Cannes à travers l’histoire". Films du Québec, April 28, 2019.
  4. Jay Scott, "Lefebvre's deceptive simplicity". The Globe and Mail, May 22, 1982.
  5. Peter Harcourt, Jean Pierre Lefebvre. Canadian Film Institute, 1991.
  6. Waugh, Thomas, Romance of Transgression in Canada: Queering Sexualities, Nations, Cinemas. Carleton University Press, 2006. ISBN 978-0773530690. p. 64.


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