''Ordinary Tenderness'' () is a Canadian drama film, directed by Jacques Leduc and released in 1973.

Gerald Pratley Gerald Arthur Pratley (September 3, 1923 – March 14, 2011) was a Canadian film critic and historian. Piers Handling"Gerald Arthur Pratley" ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'', September 18, 2011. A longtime film critic for the Canadian Broadcasting Cor ...

, ''A Century of Canadian Cinema''. Lynx Images, 2003. . p. 163. A meditation on the relationship between love and loneliness, the film stars Jocelyn Bérubé and Esther Auger as a husband and wife who have been apart for several months as he was away working in

Schefferville Schefferville () is a town in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. Schefferville is in the heart of the Naskapi and Innu territory in northern Quebec, less than 2 km (1¼ miles) from the border with Labrador o ...

; the film's narrative intercuts between his long drive home at the end of his work assignment, and her time at home impatiently waiting for his arrival.

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who was the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in 2000. ...

"Canadians Offer 'Ordinary Tenderness':The Cast"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', April 6, 1974. The cast also includes Luce Guilbeault, Jean-Pierre Bourque, Claudette Delorimier, J.-Léo Gagnon,

Plume Latraverse Plume Latraverse (born ''Michel Latraverse'' 11 May 1946) is a prolific singer, musician, songwriter and author from Quebec. At the end of the 1960s he formed a band named La Sainte Trinité with Pierrot le fou (Pierre Léger) and Pierre Landr ...

, Tiffany Lee, Jean-René Ouellet, Hélène Tremblay and Véronique Tremblay.Charles-Henri Ramond
"Tendresse ordinaire – Film de Jacques Leduc"
''Films du Québec'', March 19, 2009.

Critical response

of ''

'' wrote that "Like the early

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (;''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''"Warhol" born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director and producer. A leading figure in the pop art movement, Warhol ...

, but less spectacularly so, Mr. Leduc is fascinated by the smallest, most common gestures, the drinking of a glass of beer or the maneuvering of a shopping cart through a supermarket. The gestures are not ends in themselves. They are the coded messages of lovers and friends. 'Ordinary Tenderness' is quite unlike any movie I've ever seen. I'm not sure it sustains its feature length. Yet it is a courageous attempt to create a narrative of the emotions tied only loosely to events. Conventional narrative cinema works just the other way around."

References

External links

* 1973 films 1973 drama films Canadian drama films Films shot in Quebec Films set in Quebec Films directed by Jacques Leduc National Film Board of Canada films 1970s French-language films French-language Canadian films 1970s Canadian films {{1970s-Canada-film-stub