Films of Denys Arcand

JIM LEACH is professor emeritus in the department of communication, popular culture and film at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. He is the author of books on filmmakers Alain Tanner and Claude Jutra, as well as British Film and Film in Canada. He has also published a monograph on Doctor Who, co-edited anthologies on Canadian documentary films and heist films, and developed a Canadian edition of an introductory film studies textbook.

"Jim Leach knows Quebec cinema incredibly well, and this book is a terrific introduction to that tradition through one of its most important filmmakers. The close analyses of Arcand's documentaries are especially welcome. Readers who know Arcand's feature films since The Decline of the American Empire will also learn a great deal about those films as well as Arcand's overall feature-film corpus, which goes back to the early 1970's."— Jerry White, editor of The Cinema of Canada"Jim Leach proves a sure-footed guide to an enigmatic filmmaker whose long career 'has spanned the entire history of modern Quebec cinema.' The detailed treatment of every entry in Arcand's eclectic filmography contextualizes each work according to genre, production history, and moment in time. Leach's book is especially strong in its consideration of Arcand's films in relation to the culture and politics of Quebec, and in the ways the films cite, reflect, and comment on each other."— David Pike, author of Canadian Cinema since the 1980s: At the Heart of the World"This is a clear and comprehensive introduction to the texts and contexts of one of Quebec and Canada's leading film directors, bringing out his significance via insightful readings of his works in terms of both their national and international dimensions."— William Marshall, author of Quebec National Cinema"Skilfully presented by Leach who then goes on to examine Arcand's films chronologically from his time at the National Film Board, where his documentary work proved at times too challenging for his paymasters....Leach is a perceptive and sympathetic critic."— British Journal of Canadian Studies"Leach knows how to work through the tangle of Quebec film criticism—a must with a much-debated director like Arcand— and he acts as a judicious mediator for the anglophone academic reader."— Canadian Journal of Film Studies"Jim Leach knows Quebec cinema incredibly well, and this book is a terrific introduction to that tradition through one of its most important filmmakers. The close analyses of Arcand's documentaries are especially welcome. Readers who know Arcand's feature films since The Decline of the American Empire will also learn a great deal about those films as well as Arcand's overall feature-film corpus, which goes back to the early 1970's."— Jerry White, editor of The Cinema of Canada"This is a clear and comprehensive introduction to the texts and contexts of one of Quebec and Canada's leading film directors, bringing out his significance via insightful readings of his works in terms of both their national and international dimensions."— William Marshall, author of Quebec National Cinema"Jim Leach proves a sure-footed guide to an enigmatic filmmaker whose long career 'has spanned the entire history of modern Quebec cinema.' The detailed treatment of every entry in Arcand's eclectic filmography contextualizes each work according to genre, production history, and moment in time. Leach's book is especially strong in its consideration of Arcand's films in relation to the culture and politics of Quebec, and in the ways the films cite, reflect, and comment on each other."— David Pike, author of Canadian Cinema since the 1980s: At the Heart of the World"Skilfully presented by Leach who then goes on to examine Arcand's films chronologically from his time at the National Film Board, where his documentary work proved at times too challenging for his paymasters....Leach is a perceptive and sympathetic critic."— British Journal of Canadian Studies"Leach knows how to work through the tangle of Quebec film criticism—a must with a much-debated director like Arcand— and he acts as a judicious mediator for the anglophone academic reader."— Canadian Journal of Film Studies

• List of Illustrations                                                                                                    Foreword                                                                                                                   Introduction: Denys of Quebec                                                                                 Chapter 1: Alone or with others: Arcand and the Quiet Revolution                   Chapter 2: Subjective documentaries: Arcand at the NFB                                Chapter 3: Dirty money: Arcand's crime films                                                  Chapter 4: Fall and rise: Arcand and the American empire                               Chapter 5: Of beauty and death in the digital epoch                                          Chapter 6: Living in the shadows: Arcand and contemporary Quebec              Filmography                                                                                                               Works cited                                                                                                              Index