The Crime of Ovide Plouffe

The Crime of Ovide Plouffe (French: Le Crime d'Ovide Plouffe), also known as Murder in the Family in its television run, is a Canadian film and television miniseries from Quebec.[1] The project consisted of two parts: a two-hour theatrical film directed by Denys Arcand which was released to theatres in 1984, and a six-hour television miniseries which aired in 1986, with four hours directed by Gilles Carle leading into the Arcand film as the final two hours.[2]

The Crime of Ovide Plouffe
Le Crime d'Ovide Plouffe
Directed byDenys Arcand
Gilles Carle
Produced byJustine Héroux
Denis Héroux
John Kemeny
Jacques Bobet
Gabriel Boustiani
Written byDenys Arcand
Roger Lemelin
CinematographyFrançois Protat
Release date
  • August 27, 1984 (1984-08-27)
Running time
107 minutes (film)
6 episodes (TV series)
CountryCanada
LanguageFrench

The series was an adaptation of Roger Lemelin's 1982 novel, Le crime d'Ovide Plouffe, a sequel to his influential 1948 novel Les Plouffe. The original novel had been adapted by Carle as the 1981 film The Plouffe Family, and many of the same actors from the 1981 film reprised their roles in The Crime. The cast included Gabriel Arcand, Anne Létourneau, Donald Pilon, Serge Dupire, Dominique Michel, Rémy Girard, Julien Poulin, and Pierre Curzi.

The theatrical film depicted the criminal trial of Ovide Plouffe after he is falsely accused of murdering his wife Rita (Létourneau), while the television-only episodes told the story leading up to Rita's death.[3]

The series aired in French on Télévision de Radio-Canada, and in English on CBC Television, in 1986.[4] The French airing retained the film's title Le Crime d'Ovide Plouffe, while the English airing of the series was retitled from The Crime of Ovide Plouffe to Murder in the Family.

Awards

The film garnered six Genie Award nominations at the 6th Genie Awards in 1985:[5]

Gabriel Arcand won the award for Best Actor.[6]

References
  1. Wyndham Wise, Take One's Essential Guide to Canadian Film. University of Toronto Press, 2015. ISBN 9781442656208. Entry "Arcand, Denys".
  2. Janis Pallister, The Cinema of Québec: Masters in Their Own House. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1995. ISBN 9780838635629. p. 211.
  3. "Film's commercial techniques jarring: Plouffe family is back, but welcome is subdued". The Globe and Mail, September 14, 1984.
  4. "CBC unveils new season featuring nine new series". The Globe and Mail, July 4, 1985.
  5. "Quebec sweeps nominations for best-picture Genie awards". The Globe and Mail, February 15, 1985.
  6. "Daniel Petrie's 'Bay Boy' harbors six Genie Awards". Montreal Gazette, March 22, 1985.


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