''My Friend Max'' (french: Mon amie Max) is a 1994 Canadian

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-g ...

, written by

Guy Fournier Guy Fournier, CM (born 23 July 1931 in Waterloo, Quebec) is a Quebec author, playwright, and screenwriter. From 8 September 2005 to 19 September 2006 he was chairman of the board of directors of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Personal li ...

and Jefferson Lewis, and directed by

Michel Brault Michel Brault, OQ (25 June 1928 – 21 September 2013) was a Canadian cinematographer, cameraman, film director, screenwriter, and film producer. He was a leading figure of Direct Cinema, characteristic of the French branch of the National ...

. The film premiered in February 1994 at the Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois.

Plot

The film is set in contemporary

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. Catherine (

Marthe Keller Marthe Keller (born 28 January 1945) is a Swiss actress and opera director. She is perhaps best known for her role in the film '' Marathon Man'' (1976), for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award. Career Early years Keller studied ba ...

), a concert pianist, is surprised one night by the arrival of her childhood friend Max (

Geneviève Bujold Geneviève Bujold (; born July 1, 1942) is a Canadian actress. For her portrayal of Anne Boleyn in the period drama film ''Anne of the Thousand Days'' (1969), Bujold received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Her other film cre ...

), whom she hasn't seen for 25 years. Catherine and Max were students together at the Music Conservatory in Quebec City, and were the most promising pianists. While still in her teens, the adventurous Max gets pregnant. She wants to keep the child, but her domineering mother forces her to give him up for adoption. The rebellious Max then leaves Quebec and the music world. Now, years later, she returns, obsessed with finding her son. With the help of Catherine, she locates the adoption records and social workers contact her son to ask if he wants to see her. He refuses, but she keeps trying until they are reunited.

Cast

as Marie-Alexandrine Brabant *

as Catherine Mercier * Johanne McKay as Marie-Alexandrine (adolescente) *

Marie Guillard Marie Guillard (born 20 June 1972) is a French actress. She was born in the Paris suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine. Personal life She was married to Nicola Sirkis from July 1995 until November 1998. Presently she is married to Samy Naceri. Filmog ...

as Catherine (adolescente) * Michel Rivard as Denis Lajeunesse *

Rita Lafontaine Rita Lafontaine (8 June 1939 – 4 April 2016) was a Canadian theatre, film, and television actor. Born in Trois-Rivières, Quebec. She has been described as the muse of playwright Michel Tremblay and director André Brassard. Her career span ...

as Madame Brabant *

Véronique Le Flaguais Véronique Le Flaguais (born 30 November 1947 in Paris, France) is a French actress who has acted in many Canadian productions. Her work includes a Genie Award nomination for her supporting role in '' Surviving My Mother'', '' Rumeurs'', ''Jesus ...

as Mme Michaud *

Jean-Louis Roux Jean-Louis Roux, (May 18, 1923 – November 28, 2013) was a Canadian politician, entertainer and playwright who was briefly the List of lieutenant governors of Quebec#Lieutenant Governors of Quebec, 1867–present, 26th Lieutenant Governor of Que ...

as Père Berube * Patrice Bissonnette as Michael Simard

Awards

At RVCQ, Bujold won the award for Best Performance, McKay won the award for Most Promising Actor, and

and Jefferson Lewis won the award for Best Screenplay. 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

67th Academy Awards The 67th Academy Awards ceremony, organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) took place on March 27, 1995, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles beginning at 6:00 p.m. PST / 9:00 p.m. EST. During the cer ...

, but was not accepted as a nominee. It received six

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

15th Genie Awards The 15th Genie Awards were held in 1994. Nominees and winners The Genie Award nominees, with winners in each category shown in bold text: References External links Genie Awards 1994 on imdb {{Canadian Screen Awards 15 Genie Genie J ...

in 1994, 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 ...

Best Actress Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress awar ...

(Bujold), Best Supporting Actor (Rivard), Best Supporting Actress (McKay), Best Cinematography ( Sylvain Brault) and Best Editing (Jacques Gagné).John Griffin, "Exotica dominates Genie nominations". ''

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 ...

'', October 20, 1994.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:My Friend Max 1994 films 1994 drama films Canadian drama films Films directed by Michel Brault Films set in Quebec City 1990s French-language films French-language Canadian films 1990s Canadian films

Plot

Cast

Awards

See also

References

External links