''Falling Over Backwards'' is a Canadian comedy film, directed by

Mort Ransen Mort Ransen (August 16, 1933 – September 4, 2021) was a Canadian film and television director and screenwriter, best known for his Genie Award-winning 1995 film ''Margaret's Museum''. Ransen was born in Montreal, Quebec, and was educated at the ...

and released in 1990.

Plot

The film stars

Saul Rubinek Saul Hersh Rubinek (born July 2, 1948) is a German-born Canadian actor, director, producer, and playwright. He is widely known for his television roles, notably Artie Nielsen on '' Warehouse 13,'' Donny Douglas on ''Frasier'', Lon Cohen on ''A N ...

as Mel Rosenblum, a newly divorced schoolteacher suffering a

mid-life crisis A midlife crisis is a transition of identity and self-confidence that can occur in middle-aged individuals, typically 40 to 60 years old. The phenomenon is described as a psychological crisis brought about by events that highlight a person's grow ...

, who decides to reconstruct the happier times in his life by engineering the reunion of his divorced parents Harvey (

Paul Soles Paul Robert Soles (August 11, 1930 – May 26, 2021) was a Canadian actor and television personality. He led the voice cast in such series as ''The Marvel Super Heroes'' (1966), voiced the title character in ''Spider-Man'' (1967), and portraye ...

) and Rose ( Helen Hughes). Meanwhile, Mel himself is drawn into a nascent relationship with Jackie (Julie Saint-Pierre), his landlady, which is complicated when Jackie discovers that she is pregnant by her previous boyfriend and considers having an

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...

Cast

as Mel Rosenblum *

as Harvey Rosenblum * Julie Saint-Pierre as Jackie * Helen Hughes as Rose Rosenblum *

Vlasta Vrána Vlasta Vrána (born 1950), is a Canadian actor of Czech descent. Life and career Vrána, born to Czech parents in Norway, moved to Canada at age four. He made his feature-film debut in Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg's '' Shivers''. Vrána ...

as Drunk *

Harry Standjofski Harry Standjofski (born May 22, 1959) is a Canadian actor as well as a theater director and playwright. He has appeared in films such as ''Guy X'', ''The Aviator (2004 film), The Aviator'', ''Protection (2001 film), Protection'', ''X-Men: Days of ...

as Club Manager *

Aidan Devine Aidan Devine is an English–Canadian film actor. He was born in England and immigrated with his family to Canada at the age of 15. He studied at Dawson College's Dome Theatre in Montreal, Quebec and began his acting career in Montreal. He woul ...

as Young Man

Reception

The film was compared by critics to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

version of a

Michel Tremblay Michel Tremblay (born 25 June 1942) is a French-Canadian novelist and playwright. Tremblay was born in Montreal, Quebec, where he grew up in the French-speaking neighbourhood of Plateau Mont-Royal; at the time of his birth, a neighbourhood wit ...

play. Ransen described it as the film that led to his decision to leave the

National Film Board The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary fi ...

to work as an independent director, as he could not imagine the board approving the project."Director finds vision on Plateau; Montrealer realizes dream of making feel-good '50s flick with feel-bad problems of '90s". ''

Montreal Gazette The ''Montreal Gazette'', formerly titled ''The Gazette'', is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Three other daily English-language newspapers shuttered at various times during the second half of th ...

'', April 5, 1991. The film received two

Genie Award The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978; also known as the "Etrog Awards," for scu ...

nominations at the 12th Genie Awards in 1991, for Best Supporting Actor (Soles) and

Best Sound Editing This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow List of film awards, film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awa ...

(Gudrun Christian, Andy Malcolm, Michelle Cooke, Abby Jack Neidik and Diane Le Floch).

References

External links

* 1990 films 1990 comedy films Canadian comedy films English-language Canadian films Films shot in Montreal Films set in Montreal Films directed by Mort Ransen 1990s English-language films 1990s Canadian films {{1990s-Canada-film-stub