| To the Rhythm of My Heart | |
|---|---|
| French | Au rythme de mon cœur |
| Directed by | Jean Pierre Lefebvre |
| Produced by | Jim Kelly |
| Cinematography | Jean Pierre Lefebvre |
| Edited by | Jean Pierre Lefebvre |
Production company | Cinak |
| Distributed by | J.A. Lapointe Films |
Release date |
|
Running time | 80 minutes |
| Country | Canada |
| Language | French |
To the Rhythm of My Heart (French: Au rythme de mon cœur) is a Canadian documentary film, directed by Jean Pierre Lefebvre and released in 1983.[1] Made during his national tour of Canada for a 1981 retrospective of his films compiled by the Canadian Film Institute, the film is a video diary documenting both his philosophical and creative discussions on the co-operative movement in cinema as part of the tour and the concurrent illness and death of his wife, film editor and producer Marguerite Duparc.[2]
The film's origins were in a short "video postcard" that Lefebvre had planned to record for film studies students at Ryerson University after hosting a workshop there in 1980.[3] Much of the film was shot with an old Bolex camera that had to be frequently rewound, leading Lefebvre — long known for films that had a slow, languid pacing — to quip "Don't be worried, there are no long shots, so it's my fastest film."[3]
The film premiered at the 1983 Toronto International Film Festival.[4] Jay Scott of The Globe and Mail positively reviewed the film, writing that "The images he finds are wonderful: a long sequence, scored to a Moog he reports he purchased "from Radio Shack", of lights flickering on water; a black Labrador, suspicious in the white snow; a kitten, worrying a baby mouse to death; and a ferry with railings stark and rigid in formal frontality, like a Christopher Pratt print reconstituted for the silver screen. To The Rhythm of My Heart is experimental and non-linear - "the emotion is really in the form of the film," as Lefebvre puts it - but it is usually fascinating and never forbidding."[3]
The film received a Genie Award nomination for Best Feature Length Documentary at the 6th Genie Awards in 1985.[5]
- ^ Patrick Schupp, "Au rythme de mon coeur, Réalisation :Jean-Pierre Lefebvre, Canada (Québec), 1983, 80 minutes". Séquences, Issue 115 (January 1984). pp. 32-33.
- ^ Peter Harcourt, "Jean Pierre Lefebvre's Au rythme de mon cœur / To the Rhythm of My Heart". Cinema Canada, April 1984.
- ^ a b c Jay Scott, "Festival of Festivals: An intriguing 'film diary'". The Globe and Mail, September 13, 1983.
- ^ "World premieres set for festival". The Globe and Mail, September 7, 1983.
- ^ Jay Scott, "Bay Boy reels in 11 Genie nominations". The Globe and Mail, February 15, 1985.