Mon oncle Antoine

Claude Jutra's 1971 film is set in rural Quebec, in a town among the asbestos mines, in the days before Christmas. Benoit lives with his uncle Antoine, who runs both the general store and the undertaking business. For a long stretch the film moves through everyday detail: work in the shop, snow, townspeople watching each other, the first signs of adolescence. Then Benoit goes out with his uncle to collect a body from a distant farm, and that night changes everything. Jutra presents growing up not as a celebration but as the moment you notice how weak the adults are. The film has repeatedly been placed at the top of lists of the most important Canadian films, and is also read as a record of Quebec just before the Quiet Revolution. Who it's for: viewers who like quiet, observational coming-of-age stories. Who it's not for: anyone wanting a fast narrative and a clean ending; the film finishes somewhere cold and bitter.