''Surfacing'' is a 1981 Canadian drama film directed by

Claude Jutra Claude Jutra (; March 11, 1930 – November 5, 1986) was a Canadian actor, film director, and screenwriter.

Kathleen Beller Kathleen Beller (born February 19, 1956) is an American actress who was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Actress in a Supporting Role for her role in '' Promises in the Dark'' (1979) and was well known for her role as Kir ...

, R. H. Thomson,

Joseph Bottoms Joseph Bottoms is an American actor who won the 1975 Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year for his role in '' The Dove''. He is also well known for his roles in the television mini-series ''Holocaust'' and Disney's ''The Black Hole''. Car ...

Michael Ironside Frederick Reginald Ironside (born February 12, 1950), known as Michael Ironside, is a Canadian actor, producer, director, and screenwriter. He is known for playing villains and "tough guy" heroes, and has also portrayed sympathetic characters. E ...

and

Margaret Dragu Margaret Dragu (born 1953) is a Canadian dancer, writer, performance artist and feminist. Career Dragu was born in Regina, Saskatchewan, in 1953. Growing up she was influenced by traditional Romanian folk dancing. As an adult she spent time in Ne ...

.Claude Jutra
at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a perman ...

's Canadian Film Encyclopedia. The film was written by Bernard Gordon as an adaptation of

Margaret Atwood Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, teacher, environmental activist, and inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of non-fiction, ...

's novel '' Surfacing'' (1972). The film received mixed reviews, with criticism of Bottom’s performance, and praise for Dragu’s. The film garnered one

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 sc ...

nomination at the 3rd Genie Awards, for songwriter

Ann Mortifee Ann Mortifee, (born 30 November 1947) is a Canadian singer, composer and librettist, author, storyteller, and keynote speaker. Her music blends folk, musical theatre, pop, sacred and world music. She is a member of the Order of Canada, the highe ...

in the Best Original Song category. Atwood's novel was widely considered " unfilmable", and Jutra's adaptation was not considered successful. He had been brought in as director only at the last minute, after original director

Eric Till Eric Till (born 24 November 1929) is an English film and television director working in Canada, the United States, and Europe since the 1960s. His 1977 film '' It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet'' was entered into the 10th Moscow International Film ...

dropped out;Jim Leach, ''Claude Jutra: Filmmaker''. McGill-Queen's University Press, 1999. . it was also the first narrative feature film ever produced by

Beryl Fox Beryl Fox (born December 10, 1931) is a Canadian documentary film director and film producer. Biography Fox was born in 1931 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. After graduating from the University of Toronto she was hired by the CBC and worked there from ...

, who was primarily known as a documentary filmmaker. In addition, the film was criticized for casting Beller and Bottoms, actors from the United States, in a film adaptation of a novel with themes of

Canadian nationalism Canadian nationalism seeks to promote the unity, independence, and well-being of Canada and the Canadian people. Canadian nationalism has been a significant political force since the 19th century and has typically manifested itself as seeking t ...

, as well as for giving Bottoms top billing even though Beller's character was the novel's primary protagonist. Jutra rebounded the following year with the more successful and better-received '' By Design''.

Filming locations

The final diving scene was filmed in the Bon Echo Provincial Park area on Mazinaw Lake at Mazinaw Rock in south-eastern Ontario. Nearby, the former Pethicks store/gas station was also used. The river scenes were shot on the Madawaska River near

Algonquin Park Algonquin Provincial Park is a provincial park located between Georgian Bay and the Ottawa River in Ontario, Canada, mostly within the Unorganized South Part of Nipissing District. Established in 1893, it is the oldest provincial park in Canad ...

References

External links

* 1981 films Canadian drama films English-language Canadian films Films directed by Claude Jutra Films based on works by Margaret Atwood Films set in Quebec Films based on Canadian novels Films shot in Ontario 1980s English-language films 1980s Canadian films {{1980s-Canada-film-stub