National Canadian Film Day 2018
- Loyalties
- Canada1986
- Anne Wheeler
- 99 35mm
- PG
Screening Dates
- April 18, 2018 6:30
Anne Wheeler’s powerful 1986 drama (her first fiction feature) is a highlight of a distinguished filmmaking career devoted to bringing authentic, socially conscious Canadian stories—and particularly women’s stories—to the screen. Framed as a psychological thriller, the film relates the growing friendship between two very different women in a small Alberta town. Lilly (Susan Wooldridge), a prim, upper-crust Englishwoman, is the lonely wife of the town’s new doctor (Kenneth Walsh). Rosanne (Tantoo Cardinal) is a local Métis single mother and barmaid. The eruption of male violence in both the “Native” and “white” communities causes each woman to question her personal loyalties and forges a bond between them. Wheeler’s film, scripted by Sharon Riis, impresses with its potent sense of place and intelligent treatment of class, race, and gender. Print courtesy TIFF’s Film Reference Library.