Set in a rural Québec village in the dead of winter, Jean-François, a single father, works at a deserted bowling alley at night and in a rundown motel during the day. His daughter, Julyvonne, never leaves their home. Jean-François isolates her in fear that contact with the outside world will scar her the way it has him.
Acting
Philomène Bilodeau's eerie stillness—child actor who barely speaks, haunts completely.
Direction
Côté's deadpan austerity turns a bowling alley into purgatory.
Cinematography
Bleached whites and industrial grays that physically chill you.
Director
Denis Côté
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Emmanuel and Philomène Bilodeau are real-life father and daughter; Denis Côté cast them specifically to exploit their actual bond for maximum discomfort.
Côté is part of the 'new wave' of Québécois cinema that rejects the province's traditionally warm rural nostalgia—this is anti-"Belle Province" cinema, all frost and alienation.
CA
