The Grand Seduction

A box office smash in its native Quebec, Jean-François Pouliot's 2003 film La grande séduction wowed critics at Cannes and won the World Cinema Audience Award at Sundance. Now, a decade later, the classic Canadian tale returns to the screen as an English-language remake, directed by Don McKellar and adapted by acclaimed filmmakers Ken Scott (Starbuck), who wrote the original, and Michael Dowse (The F Word, also screening at the Festival).

Substituting the quaint charm of a fishing village in rural Quebec with the rugged beauty of a tiny Newfoundland coastal community, The Grand Seduction charts the lengths to which the townsfolk will go to enchant a big-city visitor. Like many affected by the collapse of the fishing industry, residents of this once-thriving settlement are driven to seek employment in the city, or, worse, queue for government assistance. Their future begins to look brighter when a plastics manufacturer proposes to set up shop — until they learn that the contract calls for a resident doctor to serve the community's needs.

Enter Dr. Lewis (Taylor Kitsch), an ethically suspect cosmetic surgeon temporarily banished to the physician-starved seaside. In a riotous attempt to charm him — without revealing their plan — the villagers take up the doctor's beloved sport of cricket, and fall over themselves trying to persuade him that their seemingly sleepy hamlet is secretly a hotbed of cosmopolitan sophistication.

The Grand Seduction's gentle, whimsical reflections on a contemporary social issue are poignant and uproarious by turns, and are brought to life through superb performances from Irish screen star Brendan Gleeson and Canadian icon Gordon Pinsent. Shot on location in Trinity Bay, the film marvellously captures the colour and vibrancy of Newfoundland's coastal landscape, and is certain to delight even the saltiest cynic.