Les voitures d’eau

Pierre Perrault's third feature film on Île aux Coudres, Les Voitures d'eau tackles the problem of the builders and navigators of wooden schooners, in an age of iron ships, international competition and monopolies. Men of the sea, as skilful in deed as in word, the captains of the river's last schooners are experiencing the end of an artisanal era in which their sons can no longer find a place. The first part of the film theorizes the human and verbal knowledge and wealth associated with this science of wooden boats. The second part, taking stock of a tragic navigation season on the St. Lawrence, raises major questions about the economic and political integration of French Canadians.