Wikipedia article
'A Pacemaker and a Sidecar' (, lit. "Hot Water, Cold Water") is a Canadian black comedy film, directed by Andr Forcier and released in 1976.[Gerald Pratley, 'A Century of Canadian Cinema'. Lynx Images, 2003. . p. 164.]
The film centres on a group of residents of a rooming house in a working class neighbourhood in Montreal, who have gathered for the birthday party of their landlord Polo (Jean Lapointe), a local crime boss and loan shark.[Charles-Henri Ramond, [https://www.filmsquebec.com/films/eau-chaude-eau-frette-andre-forcier/ "Eau chaude, leau frette, L Film dAndr Forcier"]. 'Films du Qubec', January 31, 2009.] The guests at the party include Amde (Albert Payette) and Panama (Guy L'cuyer), a gay couple who cater the party, and Carmen (Sophie Clment), a woman who owes Polo money for her daughter Francine's (Louise Gagnon) pacemaker and decides to pay the debt off with sex.[Robert Martin, "Forcier's vivid images lack thought". 'The Globe and Mail', October 21, 1976.] Meanwhile, Francine and her boyfriend Ti-Guy (Rjean Audet), who both dislike Polo, hatch a plot to kill him which backfires when another guest at the party dies instead.
Distribution
The film premiered in the Directors' Fortnight program at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival,[Maxime Demers, [https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2020/04/25/la-deuxieme-vie-de-leau-chaude-leau-frette "La deuxime vie de Leau chaude leau frette"]. 'Le Journal de Montral', April 25, 2020.] and was later screened at the 1976 Festival of Festivals.[Robert Martin, "Toronto festival gets Forcier film". 'The Globe and Mail', September 24, 1976.] Its screening at Toronto sparked a dispute between the festival and the national Film Festivals Bureau, with festival organizers claiming that they had been denied a screening on the grounds that the festival was too new and unimportant,[Robert Martin, "Toronto's film festival: will the smorgasbord prove indigestible?". 'The Globe and Mail', September 18, 1976.] while the Festivals Bureau claimed that it was simply a scheduling conflict, as the film's sole English print had already been booked by the Chicago International Film Festival, which was running at the same time as Toronto's festival.[ A compromise was reached whereby the print was shipped to Toronto for a screening in the early part of the festival, so that it could then be sent back to Chicago in time for that festival's scheduled screening.][
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Due to a technical issue with the film's original print, which was not noticed by theatrical audiences but became visible only when the film was transferred to higher-definition digital formats, it remained unavailable for many years on DVD or streaming platforms.[ A full digital restoration of the film was released to streaming platforms in April 2020.][[https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2020/04/09/leau-chaude-leau-frette-restaure-disponible-sur-diverses-plateformes "L'eau chaude l'eau frette restaur disponible sur diverses plateformes"]. 'Le Journal de Montral', April 9, 2020.]
References
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