Two Episodes from the Life of Hubert Aquin

Aquin vivant était un personnage éblouissant et hors de l'ordinaire. Mort, il est déjà légendaire. De sa légende--tout est à la fois vrai et faux chez Aquin--est né Deux épisodes dans la vie d'Hubert Aquin. Il s'agit là d'une évocation de son univers. Ce n'est ni une biographie, ni une oeuvre critique. Mais celui qui verra le film devrait mieux lire Aquin ou même avoir envie d'en savoir davantage.

In his native village of Fauquier, in northern Ontario, the poet Pierre Albert is organizing an ultimate gala to celebrate the impending death of the last of the Franco-Ontarians. What final testimony will the prominent artist he has invited pronounce? Will his father, Antoine, and the rest of the community rally behind this strange undertaking? As so many Franco-Ontarians, Antoine Albert has had to struggle hard just to raise his family and Pierre's concerns are quite alien to him. In fact, like so many others, he has never chosen to define himself as a Franco-Ontarian. Be that as it may, the Spectre, a playful character, true incarnation of the franco-ontarian collective consciousness, has decided to help the poet in his own inimitable fashion. The Last of the Franco-Ontarian is a passionate and unprecedented homage to a people and its culture. In French with English subtitles.

Alden Nowlan survived rural poverty to become the winner of Canada's 1967 Governor General's Award for poetry. His empathy with ordinary people ran throughout his work as poet, journalist, short-story writer, novelist and playwright. His writing is admired far beyond his native Maritimes, but he never forgot his roots, which he drew on for inspiration. This film, shot just before his death in 1983, records him reminiscing and reading from his work.