Home | Movies By Year | Movies from 1983
Just a Game (film)
Buy Just a Game (film) now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the movie. And once you've experienced the movie, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
'Just a Game' is a Canadian drama film, directed by Brigitte Sauriol and released in 1983.Jay Scott, "Incest film proves an embarrassment". 'The Globe and Mail', May 14, 1983. An examination of incest, the film stars Raymond Cloutier as Andr, a married father who is committing incest with his daughters, and Marie Tifo as Mychle, his unhappily married wife whose resentment of their daughters has led her to turn a blind eye to her husband's activities."Film reduces family to a lab of horrors". 'The Globe and Mail', March 20, 1984.
The film premiered at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival, and had its Canadian theatrical premiere in October 1983. The film faced some controversy in early 1984, when the Ontario Censor Board refused to permit it to be screened in Ontario unless the two scenes that most visibly depicted the incest were cut, even though Sauriol had carefully shot them to prevent them from being seen as sexually graphic."Festival is forced to cancel film showing". 'The Globe and Mail', March 20, 1984.
The film received three Genie Award nominations at the 5th Genie Awards in 1984, for Best Director (Sauriol), Best Actress (Tifo) and Best Sound Editing (Marcel Pothier)."11 nominations for Chapdelaine in Genie race". 'The Globe and Mail', February 10, 1984.
Critical response
Writing about the film's premiere at Cannes, Jay Scott of 'The Globe and Mail' called the film "stultifyingly predictable" and "psychologically simplistic", and opined that Sauriol "depends on her sincerity to mask mistakes". Reviewing the film during its theatrical run, his colleague Carole Corbeil gave it a more nuanced review, likening it to "one long bad 'For the Record'; it invents characters to advance a theme", but calling it "honest, and gritty, and this quality redeems it somewhat".
The film was purchased by several anti-incest activist groups for use in educational campaigns.
References
Buy Just a Game (film) now from Amazon
<-- Return to movies from 1983