''The Confessional'' (french: Le Confessionnal) is a 1995 mystery-

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by

Robert Lepage Robert Lepage (born December 12, 1957) is a Canadian playwright, actor, film director, and stage director. Early life Lepage was raised in Quebec City. At age five, he was diagnosed with a rare form of alopecia, which caused complete hair l ...

. The film is set in

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the metropolitan area had a population of 839,311. It is t ...

, in two distinct time periods. In the present day, Pierre Lamontagne (

Lothaire Bluteau Lothaire Bluteau (born 14 April 1957) is a Canadian actor. Biography He was born in Montreal, Quebec, and performs in both French and English. Bluteau has worked in theatre, film and television throughout Canada and internationally. He aband ...

) searches for his estranged brother Marc ( Patrick Goyette) to help unravel a family mystery. The mystery itself unfolds in flashbacks set against the backdrop of Alfred Hitchcock's 1952 filming of '' I Confess'' in the city. The cast also includes

Ron Burrage Ron is a shortening of the name Ronald. Ron or RON may also refer to: Arts and media *Big Ron (EastEnders), Big Ron (''EastEnders''), a TV character *Ron (King of Fighters), Ron (''King of Fighters''), a video game character *Ron Douglas, the pr ...

as Hitchcock, Kristin Scott Thomas as his assistant, and Jean-Louis Millette as Raymond Massicotte, Marc's lover who also holds the key to unlocking the Lamontagne family's secrets. ''The Confessional'' won the Genie Award for

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

and the

Claude Jutra Award The John Dunning Best First Feature Award is a special Canadian film award, presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to the year's best feature film by a first-time film director. Under the earlier names Claude Jutra Award and Ca ...

for the best feature film by a first-time director at the

16th Genie Awards The 16th Genie Awards were held on January 14, 1996, to honour films released in 1995."Two films divide Genie spoils". ''The Globe and Mail'', January 15, 1996. The ceremony took place in Montreal at Société Radio-Canada's Studio 42. For the fi ...

. The film was selected as the Canadian entry for the

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

at the

68th Academy Awards The 68th Academy Awards ceremony, organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 1995 in the United States and took place on March 25, 1996, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles beg ...

, but was not accepted as a nominee.Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Cast

as Pierre Lamontagne * Patrick Goyette as Marc Lamontagne * Jean-Louis Millette as Raymond Massicotte * Kristin Scott Thomas as Assistant to Hitchcock *

as Alfred Hitchcock * Richard Fréchette as André Lamontagne *

François Papineau François Papineau (born 24 December 1966) is a Canadian actor who worked in stage and the Cinema of Quebec for over 25 years. Papineau graduated from the National Theatre School of Canada in 1990. He was nominated for the Genie Award for Best ...

as Paul-Émile Lamontagne *

Marie Gignac Marie Gignac is a two-time Genie Award–nominated actress. Gignac has been nominated twice in the category of Best Supporting Actress each for '' The Confessional (Le Confessionnal)'' and ''The Secret Life of Happy People (La Vie secrète des ge ...

as Françoise Lamontagne * Normand Daneau as The Young Priest Massicotte * Anne-Marie Cadieux as Manon *

Suzanne Clément Suzanne Clément (born 12 May 1969) is a Canadian actress. She is known for her work in Xavier Dolan's arthouse films ''I Killed My Mother'' (2009), '' Laurence Anyways'' (2012), and '' Mommy'' (2014). With Emilie DeQuenne, she shared the Un Ce ...

as Rachel *

Lynda Lepage-Beaulieu Lynda is a spelling variation of the feminine given name Linda (given name), Linda. Notable people with the name include: People Arts and entertainment * Lynda Adams, later Hunt (1920–1997), Canadian diver * Lynda Baron (1939–2022), British tel ...

as Jeanne d'Arc * Pascal Rollin as The Parish Priest Laliberte *

Billy Merasty Billy Merasty (born 1960) is an Aboriginal Canadian actor and writer of Cree descent. Early life Merasty was born in Brochet, Manitoba, Canada. He is the ninth of fourteen siblings born to Viola and Pierre Merasty, and a grandson of Joe Highway ...

as Moose *

Paul Hébert Paul Hébert, OC, CQ (May 28, 1924 – April 20, 2017) was a French Canadian television and stage actor and director, and the founder of six theatres in Quebec. He is best known for his role as Siméon Desrosiers in '' Le Temps d’une paix'', ...

as The Parish Priest (1989)

References

External links

* * *
Canadian Film Encyclopedia
1995 films French mystery drama films Best Picture Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners Canadian mystery drama films 1990s mystery drama films Films about films Films set in Quebec City Films directed by Robert Lepage Best First Feature Genie and Canadian Screen Award-winning films Films shot in Quebec Canadian LGBT-related films LGBT-related drama films 1995 LGBT-related films 1995 directorial debut films 1995 drama films Cultural depictions of Alfred Hitchcock French-language Canadian films 1990s English-language films 1990s Canadian films 1990s French films {{LGBT-drama-film-stub

Cast

See also

References

External links