J.A. Martin Photographer (J.A. Martin photographe) is a 1977 drama film directed by Jean Beaudin for the National Film Board of Canada.
Contents
Synopsis
The film is about a strong-willed woman who accompanies her photographer husband on a trip through rural Québec in the late 19th century. Once a year, J.A. Martin, who specializes in family photography, packs his gear into an old wagon and goes out to visit his rural customers. It’s a difficult trip but it’s a vacation from his stale marriage and large family. This year, his wife makes the scandalous decision to leave her children and accompany her husband. In the course of the trip, they re-discover each other and become closer.
It is a slow-paced, beautifully-photographed film which Beaudin called “a tribute to our grandmothers, our mothers and all the women of Québec.”
Reception
Box office
In France, the film was viewed by over 100,000 people.
Critical response
When J.A. Martin Photographer was first released in Québec, critics for publications such as Le Devoir and La Presse gave it negative reviews. After it won praise at the Cannes Film Festival, and Monique Mercure became the first Canadian to win the award for Best Actress, critical opinion in Québec became more positive.
In 1984, the Toronto International Film Festival ranked J.A. Martin Photographer seventh in the Top 10 Canadian Films of All Time.
In 2011, the Québec magazine L'actualité ranked it No. 1 on its list of 35 Québec films most worth seeing.
In a 2016 poll conducted of 200 media professionals conducted by the Toronto International Film Festival, Library and Archives Canada, the Cinémathèque québécoise and The Cinematheque Vancouver, it was named one of 150 essential works in Canadian cinema history.
Awards
Cannes Film Festival: Best Actress, Monique Mercure, 1977
Cannes Film Festival: Nominee: Prize of the Ecumenical Jury, 1977
28th Canadian Film Awards, Toronto 1977:
Best Feature Film
Best Performance by an Actor, Monique Mercure
Best Cinematography, Pierre Mignot
Best Direction, Jean Beaudin
Best Film Editing, Jean Beaudin and Hélène Girard
Best Art Direction, Vianney Gauthier
J.A. Martin Photographer was selected as the Canadian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 50th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.
Legacy
American director Robert Altman, whose film 3 Women also screened at Cannes that year (its star Shelley Duvall tied with Mercure for the Best Actress prize) was so impressed that he hired cinematographer Pierre Mignot on nine of his subsequent films, including Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, Streamers, Fool for Love and Prêt-à-Porter.
In 2007, The NFB released J.A. Martin Photographer on DVD. In 2008, it was screened at Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec as part of the exhibition Québec City and its Photographers, 1850-1908: The Yves Beauregard Collection.