Canada's most politically incorrect film

Quebec filmmaker Denys Arcand's Testament, released last fall, screened this month at WIFF  and now available online, is the most politically incorrect film, at least coming from Canada, possibly ever made, or since there's been the term “political correctness.” This is an almost guffaw-a-minute send-up of contemporary modern mores, aka woke. That it has been made in Canada is stunning. But, as we've seen in that province’s official rebuke to issues like religious symbols, in Quebec there may be more tolerance, shall we say, for questioning bien pensant opinion. And Testament does it in spades. Jean-Michel Bouchard (popular Quebec actor Rémy Girard) is an aged archivist living in a retirement home, the name of which oozes satire "Parizeau-Duplessis." The film opens with a pianist performing for residents and a zoom in on a background mural, of Jacques Cartier meeting the Iroquois with Mont-Royal in the background. Oh oh. Will this soon be controversial? Bouchard is a little "out of touch,” as an office subordinate says, because he doesn’t use electronic gimmicks to pry into people's lives to gather archival information. At an awards ceremony stereotyped activist writers climb over him to accept prizes for works like Vaginas on Fire and Oppression & Vengeance. He’s told to leave a discussion of "the intersexualization of identities." But Bouchard’s is a peaceful life, the elder bachelor, going for cemetery strolls. "I’ve spent my life in a peaceful province in a boring insignificant country," yet such places are "the happiest." A friend, a fitness freak and competitive cyclist, mocks his inactivity, only himself to come to an ironic end. "He never smoked or drank alcohol...we went vegan" wails his distraught wife. But the archivist gets caught up in a predictably contemporary crisis when a woke mob starts picketing the retirement home. The Cartier mural "is a painting of a foretold genocide," barks a non-native protester. Home director Suzanne Francoeur (Sophie Lorain) is intimidated and contacts her health ministry superiors in Québec City who tell her in no uncertain terms to fix the problem. "The last thing we need is a conflict with the First Nations." Francoeur (spoiler alert) acts accordingly but creates a bigger scandal when the art world denounces her as a philistine, sacrificing a famous mural and artist – “The French-Canadian Michelangelo" - on the altar of political correctness. That, ironically, sparks demonstrations by Québec nationalists shouting, “Save our Heritage” and “Quebec is our history” with Quebec’s unofficial anthem Gens du pays playing in the background. Francoeur, for her part, is to be "exiled to Quebec City." The movie has myriad mocking asides, from sending up video games to pronouns, tattoos, gender neutral washrooms to Quebec culture itself. "I saw a boring Quebec film at a matinee," sighs Jean-Michel. Also slighted are sacred cows Cirque du Soleil and Celine Dion. And the province's response to Covid, arguably the worst in Canada when it came to nursing home outbreaks, also comes in for a shellacking. The Quebec City minister tells Francoeur "during the pandemic the government was completely lost" but kept up “appearances” like it has to do on this issue. That this movie was made in any country in an otherwise woke film industry is remarkable. That it was made in Canada, in 2023, albeit in Quebec, is rather astounding.