A Dense and Rich Forêt

Ditmann | A Dense and Rich Forêt Laurent Ditmann Spelman College A Dense and Rich Forêt Janis L Pallister. The Cinema ofQuébec: Masters in Their Own House. Teaneck, N.J.: Farleigh Dickinson University Press, 1995. (599 pages.; $59.50) ? the past few years, American film critics, including academics, had many excellent opportunities to discuss the brilliant productions of Denys Arcand, especially Le Déclin de l'empire américain (1986) and the Cannes sensation Jésus de Montréal(1989). From the onset, it becomes clear to the reader of Janis L. Pallister's The Cinema of Québec that Arcand's high visibility is a clear-cut case of l'arbre qui cache ia forêt. It is precisely Pallister's intention to demonstrate that the artistic, critical, and to a certain extent financial success of Arcand's recent feature films is but one event in a long and still ongoing process, the emergence and coming of age of an autonomous Québécois film industry and, more importantly, discourse. Though not flawless, Pallister's book satisfactorily fulfills the important function of surveying the dense and rich forêt of Québécois cinema. A professor emeritus of romance languages at Bowling Green State University and the author of numerous articles on related topics, Pallister has produced a thorough and substantial study. Her career-long love for the materials she discusses and conviction that Québécois filmmakers are unjustly ignored by U.S. distributors and scholars alike show greatly through her dynamic prose. It could also be argued, however, that Pallister's stated intention of having the book "function as a hermeneutic exercise, ... provide corrections, and ... serve as the first large-scale historical and critical introduction to the Québec cinema ever offered in English" (3) might be considered a trifle too ambitious. Starting with an interesting review of early documentaries as well as unfairly forgotten works such as Tit-Coq (1952) and La Petite Aurore (1951), she posits the regional, national, and international relevance of the Québécois discourse. She then goes on to discuss the major feature films of the past twenty-five years, paying close attention to acting, directing, and producing. Pallister's treatment of some of these films may at times appear a little too narrative, occasionally lacking analytical density. Divided into 104 I Film & History Regular Feature | Book Reviews seven lengthy chapters, the book concentrates a large variety of critical approaches (from history to sociology to feminism to ideological critique.) This is, at time, slightly distracting and confusing. The diversity currently required ofscholarly studies in film and literature is certainly intellectually healthy, but one would like to see more theoretical consistency between, for instance, Chapter 3 ("Women's Cinema") and Chapter 4 ("Literature into Film.") Chapters 5 ("Québec Film as a Mirror ofSociety: The Couple; The Family; Encounters with Death; Children") and 6 ("Québec Film as a Mirror ofSociety: Institutions) also reflect this whirlwind approach to theoretical analysis. There is no doubt that gender and politics are important ideological mooring-points for any valid discussion, but Pallister's categories often appear as somewhat arbitrary. This tends to turn her approach into a hodgepodge discussion of all and everything in which sections dealing with essential questions, such as the influence ofCatholicism on Québécois culture, should perhaps have been fleshed out. Incidentally, these categories also tend to leave aside in-depth, formal discussions ofimportant issues such as genre. Luckily, Pallister's subtitles and film-by-film discussions allow the reader to overcome the rather circuitous nature ofher arguments and contentions. The reviewer will agree, however, that such concerns might reveal more about his own ignorance of certain critical discourses than any serious shortcoming of Pallister's knowledgeable survey of Québécois cinema. Pallister shows much brilliance in the discussion of cinematography, as, for instance, in her thoughtful approach to the use of color in Les fous de Bassan. Furthermore, the author's erudite and polymorphous scholarship also serves an important rationale , that of demonstrating most convincingly that, though increasingly specific and recognizable, Québécois cinema does not exist in a vacuum. She always emphasizes the sometimes...