Abla, a widow and mother to a 10-year-old girl, struggles to survive and give her child the best possible future. After the death of her husband, she starts a home-based business from her kitchen.
Set in a small Quebec town in the late-1920′s, this emotional drama follows the life and exploits of Celeste Beaumont, a talented young pianist who gains local celebrity at the town movie theater for her gifts as a silent film pianist. Awkward Pierre Blaudell is her biggest fan and eventually marries her. Shortly after this she bears his son, Pierre, who joins the army. She insists on joining him at the base and his meddlesome, snooty parents insist she give them her son. Pierre is killed in the war, and Celeste flees to New York where she finds steady employment as a jazz pianist. She finds a life-long companion with a black musician and chronicles her experiences in a diary that she passes on to her son after he grows up. Her son becomes a painter and once his own son, Antoine, is grown, reads him the story of Celeste, the youth’s grandmother. Intrigued, Antoine heads to the Big Apple in hopes of finding her.
This movie is an emotional drama about how Antoine, played beautifully by François Méthé, discovers the details of his heritage. This film won many awards in Canada and at Cannes in 1988. François Méthé, who was about 11-years-old, never acted again after this movie.
From IMDb:
A quiet painter, separated from his wife for a year, receives a suitcase in the mail from his mother, whom he hasn’t seen since infancy. He believes she abandoned him to his wealthy, paternal grandparents. The suitcase contains mementos and a diary, a long letter to him, written over the years, with details of her youth, her first job as a pianist at a cinema, the coming of talkies, her marriage, and how he came to live with his grandparents. As he reads through the materials and her story comes to life, his son Antoine, who’s about 10 or 12, tries to break through his father’s silence and sorrow by taking matters into his own hands.
Novelist Joseph Shearing specialized in using real cases which took place in Victorian England, altering them for fictional purposes. MOSS ROSE in 1947 was the first film to be made from his novels, then in 1948 two of his works were adapted for the screen, this film and THE MARK OF CAIN. The movie stars Todd as a recently widowed missionary returning to her home in England from Jamaica. During the voyage, she meets Milland, a charming though dangerous rascal who is wanted by police in connection with some unsavory dealings. Milland contracts malaria while onboard the ship and Todd nurses him back to health. In London, Todd settles into her home, taking in boarders to make ends meet. Milland arrives, moves in, and proclaims his love for her. Todd is thrilled, but it seems rather obvious that Milland is only toying with her. Milland finds some letters written to her by her friend, Fitzgerald, in which Fitzgerald reveals some of her sexual indiscretions. Since Fitzgerald is now married to the wealthy Huntley, Milland believes he can use the letters to blackmail Fitzgerald. Todd's love for Milland is so great that she goes along with the plan. Huntley, however, learns of the scheme and also uncovers details of Milland's shady past. Fearing for her lover's safety, Todd poisons Huntley, then remains silent when Fitzgerald is arrested for the murder. Milland has by now genuinely fallen in love with Todd and the two make plans to leave England. Before they can depart, one of Milland's former lovers shows up and Todd, in a jealous rage, kills Milland, then turns herself into the police. This is an intriguing film, although a little on the talky side. The performances are excellent throughout, with Milland shining as the cad, the type of role in which he excelled. Though he spent most of his time making films in the US, he occasionally returned to his native England for a production and this was his first British film since FRENCH WITHOUT TEARS in 1939. Director Allen was also an Englishman who chose to work in the US, this being his first directorial effort in his homeland. This was the fourth and last time Milland and Allen would work together, their pairing having begun in 1944 with the wonderfully eerie THE UNINVITED.
