''The Time Thief'' () is a 2021 Canadian

period drama A historical drama (also period drama, period piece or just period) is a dramatic work set in the past, usually used in the context of film and television, which presents history, historical events and characters with varying degrees of fiction s ...

and

fantasy film Fantasy films are films that belong to the fantasy genre with fantastic themes, usually Magic (paranormal), magic, supernatural events, mythology, folklore, or exotic fantasy worlds. The Film genre, genre is considered a form of speculative fic ...

directed by Francis Leclerc, based on the 2009 story by

Fred Pellerin Fred Pellerin (born November 22, 1976) is a Canadian musician and storyteller from Saint-Élie-de-Caxton, Quebec. He is a three-time Juno Award nominee for Francophone Album of the Year, garnering nominations at the Juno Awards of 2011 for ''S ...

of the same name. It stars Jade Charbonneau,

Marc Messier Marc Messier, O.C., M.S.C. (born August 16, 1947) is a Canadian actor and filmmaker. Background Born in Granby, Quebec, Messier's 45-year acting career included the participation in several well-known films and television series. After finish ...

Céline Bonnier Céline Bonnier (; born 31 August 1965) is a French Canadian actress from Quebec. She has been nominated for four awards including Genie Awards and Gemini Awards. Filmography * 1992: ''Tectonic Plates'' * 1994: '' The Wind from Wyoming (Le Vent ...

, Guillaume Cyr,

Émile Proulx-Cloutier Émile Proulx-Cloutier (born 1983) is a Canadians, Canadian actor and musician. He is most noted for his performance in the film ''We Are the Others (film), We Are the Others (Nous sommes les autres)'', for which he received a Canadian Screen Awar ...

, Marie-Ève Beauregard, Pier-Luc Funk, Sonia Cordeau, and Geneviève Schmidt. The film was theatrically released by Les Films Séville on November 19, 2021.

Premise

An illness-worn grandmother tries to convince her 11-year-old grandson that death does not exist. She tells him about the adventures of her youth in

Saint-Élie-de-Caxton Saint-Élie-de-Caxton () is a municipality in the Mauricie region of the province of Quebec in Canada. Before January 15, 2005 it was known simply as Saint-Élie. Located in the foothills of the Laurentian Mountains, its territory is dotted wit ...

, in 1927, when she had tried to eliminate death in the village.

Cast

* Jade Charbonneau as a young Bernadette **

Michèle Deslauriers Michèle Deslauriers (born January 17, 1946) is a Canadians, Canadian actress. She is the wife of actor Sébastien Dhavernas and the mother of actress Caroline Dhavernas and voice actress Gabrielle Dhavernas. She provides the voice announcing s ...

as an older Bernadette *

as Méo, a barber *

as La Stroop * Guillaume Cyr as Riopel, a blacksmith, and father of Lurette *

as Toussaint Brodeur, a merchant and Jeannette's husband * Marie-Ève Beauregard as Lurette, Riopel's daughter * Pier-Luc Funk * Sonia Cordeau as Jeannette, Brodeur's wife * Geneviève Schmidt as Madame Gélinas

Production

Development

wrote the story ''L'Arracheuse de temps'' in 2007 shortly after the death of his father. On March 30, 2016, it was announced that a feature film adaptation of the story had been in the works from the production company Attraction Images. While working on the 2017 film '' Barefoot at Dawn'' with director Francis Leclerc, Pellerin wrote part of the initial screenplay for the film. On January 18, 2019, Leclerc revealed that he would direct the film, from a now-completed screenplay written by Pellerin. On April 8, 2019, the film's screenplay was submitted to SODEC, who announced on December 16, 2019, that they would be funding the film.

Filming

Filming for ''The Time Thief'' was divided into two filming blocks; the first began on October 13, 2020, in Saint-Armand, in the

Eastern Townships The Eastern Townships (, ) is a historical administrative region in southeastern Quebec, Canada. It lies between the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence Lowlands, St. Lawrence Lowlands and the American border, and extends from Granby, Quebec, Granby in ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. Filming for the first block, which was mainly focused on shooting exterior scenes, continued in areas around the municipality of

Montérégie Montérégie () is an administrative region in the southwest part of Quebec. It includes the cities of Boucherville, Brossard, Châteauguay, Longueuil, Saint-Hyacinthe, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Salaberry-de-Valleyfield and Vaudreuil-Dorion. ...

, and concluded on October 30, 2020. Because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Fred Pellerin was not allowed to visit the film's set until October 15, 2020. The second filming block took place in April 2021 in areas around

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, with the intentions of shooting the film's interior scenes in a studio.

Release

''The Time Thief'' was theatrically released by Les Films Séville in the Canadian province of

on November 19, 2021.

Accolades

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Time Thief 2021 films 2021 drama films 2021 fantasy films 2020s historical drama films Canadian historical drama films Films directed by Francis Leclerc French-language Canadian films 2020s Canadian films Films set in 1927 Films set in 1988