A Woman, My Mother

Disarmingly benevolent, A Woman, My Mother deals with the relationship between the filmmaker and the woman who gave birth to him, but who did not want children. The narrative framework of this unclassifiable cinematographic work is based on a text addressed to his biological mother, the fruit of a long reflection by Claude Demers.

While the filmmaker's voice carries us through the story of his quest to understand the woman who gave him up for adoption at birth, the archival footage skilfully combined with the director's own footage maintains a nebulous balance between reality and fiction. The archival footage illustrates not only the context in which the events took place, but also - and more importantly - the emotions that the story inspires. Therein lies the strength of Natalie Lamoureux's editing, for which she received the Canadian Screen Award for Best Editing in a Feature Documentary in 2021. 

Carefully chosen and placed in dialogue with the narrative or invited to express themselves alone, the images manage to put a multitude of faces on this reality experienced by so many Quebec women who have remained silent. This sensitivity in the editing allows us to personify the women who had to make this heartbreaking choice and gives a voice to those who have asked or are still asking themselves the question of their origins. The use of archival footage is finely crafted and succeeds in inscribing this intimate story in the collective memory while paying a vibrant tribute to Quebec cinema.

Anne Gabrielle Lebrun Harpin
Monteurs à l'affiche
and labdoc member