SYNOPSIS: Claude Jutra's evocative portrait of a boy's coming of age in wintry 1940s rural Quebec has been consistently cited by critics and scholars as the greatest Canadian film of all time. Delicate naturalistic and tinged with a striking mix of nostalgia and menace Mon oncle Antoine follows the everyday lives of both young Benoit as he first encounters the twin terrors of sex and death and his fellow villagers living under the thumb of the local asbestos-mine owner. Set during one ominous Christmas Mon oncle Antoine is a holiday film unlike any other and an authentically detailed illustration of childhood's twilight.

EDITORIAL REVIEW: This little piece of Canadianna is from 1971 and since then has consistently been voted as the greatest Canadian film of all time.  In Mon oncle Antoine, set in a rural Quebec mining town, we follow the life of Benoit (realistically played by Jacques Gagnon) and his life helping with the "family" businesses - a General Store, where everyone in town gathers a few days before each and every Christmas to watch the unveiling of the Nativity Scene and then do their Christmas shopping; and a "funeral home", where his drunken uncle Antoine is responsible for collecting and burying the town's recently departed.

Benoit is being raised by his drunken uncle, and promiscuous aunt, Cecile.  Benoit's aunt and uncle also raise Carmen, a girl who sometimes falls "victim" to Benoit's childish pranks and 14-year-old friskiness.  Very quickly, Benoit is thrust into adulthood after a long trip through a blizzard to claim a dead body with his uncle.

Leave it to Criterion Collection to (yet again) make a masterpiece out of a masterpiece.  As always, the new digital transfer makes the picture look like it wasn't shot more than 35 years ago; and there is a second disc full of special features:

° On Screen: "Mon oncle Antoine," a 2007 documentary tracing the making and history of the film.
° Claude Jutra: An Unfinished Story, a 2002 documentary by Paule Baillargeon, featuring interviews with Brault, director Bernardo Bertolucci , and actors Genevieve Bujold and Saul Rubinek.
° A Chairy Tale, a 1957 experimental short co-directed by Jutra and Norman McLaren.
° Essay by film scholar Andre Loiselle.
° Trailer

Note: The case is a little fragile, so it is best to have this item shipped with the DVD mailer (it's extra durable cardboard).

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* This DVD will play in North America only.  This DVD should play in most players outside of North America as well, but it's not guaranteed. This DVD will play in any computer DVD-Rom.  This is NOT a DVD-R.

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STARRING: Jacques Gagnon, Lyne Champagne, Jean Duceppe, Olivette Thibault.
AVAILABILITY:: In stock! Ships within one business day.
LENGTH: 104 minutes.
LANGUAGE: French, with OPTIONAL ENGLISH SUBTITLES.
SPECIAL FEATURES: 1.66:1 (16:9 Widescreen); 2.0 Mono; 2 discs; Chapter selection; Full disc of special features (see above); Uncut.
VIEWER DISCRETION: Brief nudity, sexual innuendo, coarse language, violence.
PICTURE QUALITY: Excellent picture quality. (what's this mean?)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Canada (1971).
ALSO KNOWN AS: My Uncle Antoine.
DATE ADDED TO OUR LIBRARY:  July 25, 2006.
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