3 Seasons () is a 2009 Canadian psychological drama, directed and written by Jim Donovan. The film was produced on a minimalist budget with support of the Canada Council for the Arts and Comedians.Films du Quebec "3 saisons – Film de Jim Donovan" The story follows the lives of two couples experiencing an unexpected life change, as well as a middle-aged father seeking revenge for his life's misfortune. Leader Post summaries this film as " a gritty, multi-layered drama about the intersecting lives of two Montreal couples and a grieving middle-aged father visiting from Alberta. With pregnancy and parenthood as the unifying themes, the movie covers a period of nine months, evoking both the three seasons of the title and the length of a normal pregnancy". The three stories transect and reflect each other, displaying the same themes within similar but different situations. With a small audience range of 700 spectators in theatres, the film succeeded winning many rewards and achievements.

Plot

The film highlights three different stories. These stories unfold over the course of nine months. Two couples live completely opposite lives of each other, yet share one commonality: an unexpected pregnancy. The main characters, Carmine and Sasha live in a carefree and comfortable world and the arrival of a child shakes up their conventional life: behind their illusion of a fancy

condominium A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership regime in which a building (or group of buildings) is divided into multiple units that are either each separately owned, or owned in common with exclusive rights of occupation by individual own ...

and their successful

careers A career is an individual's metaphorical "journey" through learning, work and other aspects of life. There are a number of ways to define career and the term is used in a variety of ways. Definitions The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' defines ...

hides a couple that is living in pain, secrets and lies. Simultaneously, the other couple within the film, Justine and Seb are freedom seekers that live day by day on the streets of

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

. These two young squeegee kids live in hopes of a better future, but in the meantime seem to be content with part-time jobs; such as washing windshields and doing small-time deals. Justine's pregnancy catches Seb off guard as he is not ready to be a father. The history of violence in their relationship makes getting an abortion the obvious choice, however things worsen and turn out differently. In the third story, Stephen Decker is a 50-something

father A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. A biological fat ...

who has lost everything, his wife, his only child, and his

inner peace Inner peace (also known as peace of mind) refers to a deliberate state of psychological or spiritual calm maintained despite the presence of stressors. It is associated with a state of psychological "homeostasis" and the opposite of being stress ...

. Now he has found a new purpose for his life:

revenge Revenge is defined as committing a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. Vengeful forms of justice, such as primitive justice or retributive justice, are often differentiated from more fo ...

, which brings him from

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

to Montreal as he attempts to hunt down his daughter's

murderer Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse committed with the necessary intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisdiction. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse ...

. What he finds is far from what he expected, and five destinies converge, for better and for worse.

Director

The film was written and directed by Jim Donovan. He was born in Montreal and spent most of his life there before he moved to Toronto in early 2010, to work on the television series ''Flashpoint''. In 2013 Donovan was presented with a Canadian Screen Award for best director for his work on such television show. In 2014 Donovan was nominated for a Directors Guild of Canada award for Best Drama Television Series, for the program ''Cracked; Ghost Dance''. Jim Donovan was commended for his work on ''3 Seasons''. As director, co-producer, co-editor and co- script writer along with his actress wife Leduc, Jim took sole responsibility for the amount of success the film received. The film " was praised as best film within its budget during the 2010 Genie Awards".Brownstein, Bill (2010). "Making movie art on a shoestring: Genie-nominated 3 Saisons a gritty film was made for $35K." CanWest News Many news and media outlets covered this film and praised the success on such minimum budget, platforms such as, CanWest News, Vancouver Sun, and the Gazette. Bruno Rosato a Montreal-based movie producer claimed "This has to be one of the great underdog stories in film here in years".Brownstein, Bill (2010). "Making movie art on a shoestring: Genie-nominated 3 Saisons a gritty film was made for $35K" This film was a surprise success for many of the credits, speculators and the general public.

Achievements

* 2009 Mexico International Film Festival Golden Palm Award - Best Director - Won * 2008

Whistler Film Festival The Whistler Film Festival (WFF) is an annual film festival held in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 2001, the festival is held the first weekend of December and includes juried competitive sections, the Borsos Awards, and the Pand ...

Borsos Competition The Borsos Competition is the main awards program for Canadian feature films screening at the annual Whistler Film Festival. The award is named in memory of Canadian film director Phillip Borsos. Introduced for the first time in 2004, the juried ...

- Best Actress - Carinne Leduc - Won * 2008 Whistler Film Festival Best New Canadian Feature Film - Jim Donovan - Won *

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

Genie Award for Best Motion Picture The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television presents an annual award for Best Motion Picture to the best Canadian film of the year.Maria Topalovich, ''And the Genie Goes To...: Celebrating 50 Years of the Canadian Film Awards''. Stoddart Publis ...

- Nominee * 2010 Best Feature at the 2010

Beverly Hills Film Festival The Beverly Hills Film Festival (BHFF) is a film festival in the United States founded in 2001 by independent filmmaker Nino Simone. The festival is an international competition dedicated to "showcasing the art and talent of emerging filmmakers ...

- Won

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:3 Sainsons 2008 films 2000s psychological drama films 2000s English-language films Films set in Montreal Films shot in Montreal 2000s French-language films 2000s Italian-language films Canadian psychological drama films Quebec films Films directed by Jim Donovan 2008 multilingual films Canadian multilingual films 2000s Canadian films English-language Canadian films French-language Canadian films Italian-language Canadian films