The Cinematheque

Veteran Vancouver filmmaker Ron Kelly had been a key contributor to local TV drama and documentary during his time at CBC Vancouver in the 1950s before directing his first fiction feature in 1967. Montreal-born Alexandra Stewart stars as Caroline, a young woman torn between anglophone Vancouver and francophone Quebec—and torn between her lovers in each place. Kelly’s beautifully mounted film, co-written with George Roberson, is both an allegory on Canada’s Two Solitudes and a self-conscious homage to Truffaut’s Jules et Jim. Co-produced by the CBC and NFB, it went substantially over budget, leading to an uproar in the Canadian Senate, where one honourable member denounced the film as ​“indecent, immoral and repulsive.” Denis Gillson’s colour cinematography won a Canadian Film Award. (Kelly’s lyrical documentary Summer Afternoon, from 1956, screens in this evening’s first program.)