Maxime Mailloux

Éloi, whose father was killed in a hunting accident a year ago, is called to take part in a strange tribute ceremony in the country. There, immersed in a disturbing world of strange mystical codes, he learns that his father was tracking a huge buck with awe-inspiring antlers alongside the “Indian”. After several outstanding short films, Aurtenèche delivers a first feature that obliquely references the legend of Saint Hubert, who encountered the Almighty while hunting a stag. A cryptic thriller, hidden manuscripts, the quest for self-knowledge, psychotropic drugs: La Contemplation du mystère boldly shifts between moods and genres.

Seven years ago, Max’s parents died in a car accident. Since then, the young man, now 35, has been treading water. He manages his father’s hockey memorabilia shop, lives in the apartment upstairs, and watches each and every Habs game with his friends. But he’s forced to take a hard look at his life when his girlfriend, Julie, leaves him, and his sister, Nathalie, comes back to town.

Sigismond Langlois is submitted to a psychiatric evaluation on account of his violent behavior. He just turned 18, and pretends he was born with no image. Throughout the questionnaire, he recounts the peculiar existence of a young man who never saw himself, neither in reflection nor on photo, to the point of sometimes doubting of his own existence. But today, Sigismond is determined to make himself heard.

In 1863, a group of snow-bound travelers invokes the devil, who gives them a flying canoe for them to go home. When one of them finds his wife about to die in labor, he makes a pact with the devil to save her and his newborn daughter Liza. He then cheats the devil of his prize by sacrificing himself. 25 years later, Liza wants to marry her beloved Jos, who has to go away to a remote logging camp to earn money to save his farm, but the devil is determined to ruin her happiness.

Devastated but furious after his girlfriend dumps him on a metro platform, 23-year-old Cedric takes off with his unfinished novel in his bag. Fate leads him to a large, rundown house owned by Isabelle, a onetime star pianist and faded beauty. Isabelle, now a lonely 76-year-old alcoholic, passes her days at her piano and with her group of eccentric boarders. From their first meeting, Cedric knows that Isabelle is the love of his life, and Isabelle realizes he is her last chance for love. Driven by their intoxicating passion for one another, they plunge headlong into a love affair where they are pushed to the brink of hate and death, even escaping reality to keep their love alive.

A teenage Quebecer in the 1960s evolves from pro-independence activist to radical terrorist, in this gripping chronicle of the origins of the FLQ in the decade preceding the 1970 October Crisis.