Canadian Film Forum

Ariana Fartea

Basic Information

Seducing Doctor Lewis (La grande séduction)

Production:Téléfilm Canada
Genre: Comedy
Year: 2003
Runtime: 108 min
Language: French
Director: Jean-François Pouliot
Producers: Luc Vandal, Roger Frappier
Writer: Ken Scott
Starring: Raymond Bouchard, David Boutin, Pierre Collin, Benoît Brière, Nadia Drouin, Caroline Néron, Lucie Laurier

Theme
The people from the small fishing village of St. Marie-La-Mauderne find themselves in a financial standby. As fish is no longer available, and their only income is the government welfare check, their only hope is to attract a factory in their village. However, in order to meet the requirements of the new factory, a doctor needs to be resident. How will the people of St. Marie-La-Mauderne gain the affections of a doctor? Well, the answer is: first devise a plan to get a doctor, and then, develop a complicated scheme to make him stay on the island. So, when young and handsome Dr. Christopher Lewis (David Boutin) arrives on the island from Montreal, everything is set to please him. In order to achieve this, all the community unites: his phone calls are tapped to get to know him better, the food is changed and everybody changes their sport preference from hockey to cricket.
Town meetings are organized in the church to tell the people what the phone tapping team has discovered the doctor likes or dislikes. As a result, different things happen in order to seduce Doctor Lewis. Le Festival de Beef Stroganoff is set, they “capitalize” on women’s feet, less people go for doctor’s consults because the doctor felt tired, and he keeps finding money on his way home. As the town begins to grow on the doctor, Germaine Lesage (Raymond Bouchard), the mayor of the village, feels guilty for having lied to him and refuses the doctor’s offer to become their doctor. Will Doctor Lewis stay in St. Marie-La-Mauderne against all odds? Will he fall in love with St. Marie-La-Mauderne? Will the local color seduce his heart?
This French – Canadian movie has something to share with all viewers and it will captivate them with its interesting characters, plot and script.
“Seducing Doctor Lewis” is a compilation of good acting, interesting plot and jokes that will make you laugh out loud.
In my opinion, “Seducing Doctor Lewis” is a film that will not only open your appetite for foreign films, but also, it will give you a highly entertaining evening. This will be well spent time!

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Ariana Fartea · Trimis: 20/02/2012 23:22 Titlul subiectului: Canadian Elements

Canadian Elements
The Canadian elements in this movie can be spotted easily at all times during the movie.
First of all, this movie is a close-up picture of a small French – Canadian village, St. Marie-La-Mauderne, somewhere near Quebec. Quebec is mentioned several times as the nearest city. Due to the fact that St. Marie-La-Mauderne is an island, the only communication with the mainland is by boat. Montreal is the other large city that was mentioned in the motion picture. In terms of landscape, many of the shots are towered by the image of the sea or something connected to it: bridges that go around the villages or the sounds of waves and seagulls in the background. The village seems to be completely settled on the shores of the island.
Second of all, the characters speak a distinct Quebec French language. Both the pronunciation and words used make it clear that the French spoken is far from the customary, standard French spoken in France. Even more, there are often interferences between the English language and French language. Each character uses a combination between the two languages. Moreover, Dr. Lewis, a man from the city of Montreal, speaks a lot of English making the merger between the two languages even more obvious.
Finally, another element which is somewhat a stereotype to Canada is the appreciation of hockey as a sport. The people from St. Marie-La-Mauderne enjoy hockey a lot, even though they do not play it themselves, they are happy to enjoy it by watching it.[/color]

Ariana Fartea · Trimis: 20/02/2012 23:23 Titlul subiectului: Film composition

Film composition
“Seducing Doctor Lewis” is a low budget movie that sets the emphasis on the storytelling, good acting and clever dialogues as well as characters which react naturally to any given situation. The scenes are well thought out and the intriguing and amusing dialogues give it a believable feel, thus creating genuine laughter.
The storytelling is so normal and flowing, that the viewer almost immediately feels the sadness of this small village remembering the glorious fishing days. Moreover, the people’s rugged clothes, the welfare checks, sad expressions, too much drinking, and lack of much personal hygiene make the viewer empathize with the characters and feel as if they are a part of this small community. Although the movie is lacking in distinct effects, except the initial shot and the last shot, the cinematography is great and the presentation of Canadian rural life is refreshing.
The use of Telephoto lens is very common. However, for the landscape shots, the wide angle lenses are generally preferred over telephoto lens. There are many low angle shots especially when the church is presented. Sometimes the camera moves upward. Close-up shots are also used to show the expressions on the characters’ faces or to create a comical effect, as it is the case when the cat sits on Germaine’s chest, one morning. The camera movement is usually from left to right but there are a few shots when the camera is moved from right to left. The zoom is almost never used. There are a few scenes where the camera is lowered on a vertical line. Standstill shots are also used a lot for close-up or medium distance and even long distance shots. The editing puts together shots to create a real feel to the conversations, showing reactions or non-verbal language of the people standing by, even if they are not involved in the conversations.
All in all, even though “Seducing Doctor Lewis” is not a cinematographic masterpiece from its production standpoint, it is still great storytelling.

Ariana Fartea

First contact with St. Marie-La-Mauderne

Seducing Doctor Lewis has a multitude of great scenes which make it a unique and outstanding movie. However, one of my favourite scenes is the one in which Doctor Lewis is on his way to St-Marie-la-Mauderne by boat.
The scene begins with the waves created by the boat and the camera moving to the left showing a few new briefcases, the doctor's worried look as he sits down and Germaine smiling and standing, then the captain's serene look. After some awkward smiles and some small talk, the view is changed with a shot at a high angle, probably shot from a helicopter from behind the boat, showing the waves. Then the camera moves past the boat showing the sea. The music in the background is overlaid by the sound of seagulls.
Next, there is a medium length shot with St. Marie-La-Mauderne’s floating name that the captain hits without even flinching, followed by Germaine's denial of what had happened as well as the doctor's .
The next shot shows the cricket players discussing, from a medium length and then a boy looking through the binoculars surveying the ocean. The image shifts as the viewer is shown what the boy sees as if he were looking through the binoculars himself: the sea and then the boat. The boy announces the boat, and men start swarming to get into place. This shot is taken from a high angle, long distance, then, a few medium shots with the players running around.
The image shifts back to the boat where Doctor Lewis is reading a brochure (medium length). He almost misses the cricket players on the coast, but Germaine subtly makes him pay attention to them.
As Germaine sits next to the Doctor (close-up) and looks into the distance, the image changes and there is a high angle shot in which the viewers can see both the boat and the men on the cricket court (wide angle lens), probably shot from a helicopter.
The image goes back to the two men on the boat where Germaine and Doctor Lewis see the players for the first time on the coast. Accordion music starts playing and the doctor sees them.
What makes this scene so special is the great acting provided by David Boutin as Christopher Lewis and Raymond Bouchard as Germaine Lesage. Doctor Lewis’s reaction to seeing cricket players on the hill is so genuine and hilarious. This is especially hilarious because the viewer is aware of the fact that it is only a fictional game which was prepared before hand by improvising both the costumes and the equipment. The purpose of the director is reached as the scene moves on and things become even funnier.
Doctor Lewis gets very excited at the sight of men playing cricket (“Non, non, c’est pas vrai, non, non.”) and demands to be taken to the cricket game. As music goes on, we can also hear the sound of waves crashing. Further on, there is a high angle shot of the boat on its side, and as the boat goes out of the frame, we are shown a long distance shot of the players on the field. The image switches back to the boat with a close-up shot of the doctor and Germaine behind him for which a Telephoto lens was used. The image is changed to a long distance shot of the players, but the conversation between the men on the boat continues, as well as the background music, and then, the image shifts back to the boat. There is an exchange of images between the boat and the field, and Yvon shown in a close-up shot, smiling contently. The conversation finishes with the doctor's decision to go watch the match and his request to the captain to do so.
The captain is filmed through the windshield, as the Doctor enthusiastically asks him to turn left and go to the cricket game. The captain obeys, and the image is changed with one of a boy with binoculars.
Further on, there is a nice long distance shot, a parallel movement of the camera, first showing the court with the men fugitively and then showing the boat turning towards the island in the distance (helicopter shot). As the boy runs toward Yvon, the image shifts and the camera moves in, to show Yvon’s shocked face, forming a close-up. And Yvon says “On est dans *****”. This was a brilliant shot, the movement of the boy running towards Yvon and the camera moving in, gave it a very nice feel of continuity.
One of the players comes to Yvon and asks him if there is a Plan B (camera films from their side, perpendicularly). Upon hearing there is no plan B, he starts pacing back and forth saying “qu’est-ce qu’on fait? qu’est-ce qu’on fait?” Meanwhile, the doctor and Germaine have reached shore and although at first we cannot see them, only the image of the boat ashore, we can hear and them speaking (overlapping). The image is shot from up the hill, and they come into view as they climb it.
The fussing continues on the field as the tension grows with the doctor coming closer and closer, closing in the distance. We can see Germaine and the doctor near the field, and then, a close-up of Yvon’s triumphant, smiling face as he starts shouting “yeaaah”. All the other men soon pick up the cheerful shouting, jumping and seeming genuinely happy. “Voila, le match est fini” says Germaine as he turns the doctor around, not letting him have another glance at their equipment. They move away from the camera, down the hill, towards the boat. Doctor Lewis gets a bit confused that both teams were cheering, but he moves forward without questioning it further.
This scene was beautifully crafted with both nice editing and beautiful shots. Moreover, the actors gave it a natural feel using their acting skills to the utmost, thus provoking laughter.
In spite the fact that I watched this scene and this movie several times, my reaction to it was still the same: laugher. To me, that is great comedy.
I wholeheartedly recommend this movie to you, dear colleagues!