J.A. Martin Photographer

{{Short description|1977 Canadian drama film}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}} {{Infobox film | name = J.A. Martin Photographer | native_name = {{Infobox name module|fr|J.A. Martin photographe}} | image = | caption = | director = Jean Beaudin | producer = Jean-Marc Garand | writer = Jean Beaudin Marcel Sabourin | starring = Marcel Sabourin Monique Mercure Marthe Thiéry Catherine Tremblay Mariette Duval | music = Maurice Blackburn | cinematography = Pierre Mignot | editing = Jean Beaudin Hélène Girard | studio = National Film Board of Canada | released = {{film date|1977|2|11|df=yes}} | runtime = 100 minutes | country = Canada | language = French | budget = $488,014 ({{Inflation|CA|488,014|1976|fmt=eq}}).{{sfn|Evans|1991|p=240}} }}

'''''J.A. Martin Photographer''''' (''J.A. Martin photographe'') is a 1977 drama film directed by Jean Beaudin for the National Film Board of Canada.<ref>{{cite web |title=J.A. Martin Photographer |url=https://www.nfb.ca/film/j_a_martin_photographer/ |website=nfb.ca |publisher=National Film Board of Canada |access-date=22 April 2023}}</ref>

The film was selected as the Canadian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 50th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.

==Synopsis== The film is about a strong-willed woman who accompanies her photographer husband on a trip through rural Québec in the late 19th century. Once a year, J.A. Martin, who specializes in family photography, packs his gear into an old wagon and goes out to visit his rural customers. It’s a difficult trip but it’s a vacation from his stale marriage and large family. This year, his wife makes the scandalous decision to leave her children and accompany her husband. In the course of the trip, they re-discover each other and become closer. It is a slow-paced, beautifully-photographed film which Beaudin called “a tribute to our grandmothers, our mothers and all the women of Québec.”

==Reception== ===Box office=== In France, the film was viewed by over 100,000 people.{{sfn|Marshall|2001|p=85}} ===Critical response=== When ''J.A. Martin Photographer'' was first released in Québec, critics for publications such as ''Le Devoir'' and ''La Presse'' gave it negative reviews. After it won praise at the Cannes Film Festival, and Monique Mercure became the first Canadian to win the award for Best Actress, critical opinion in Québec became more positive.<ref name="festival-cannes.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/2015/year/1977.html |title=Festival de Cannes: J.A. Martin Photographer |access-date=10 May 2009|work=festival-cannes.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Wise |first1=Wyndham |title=J.A. Martin, photographe |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/ja-martin-photographe |website=cfe.tiff.net |publisher=Canadian Film Encyclopedia |access-date=22 April 2023}}</ref> In 1984, the Toronto International Film Festival ranked ''J.A. Martin Photographer'' seventh in the Top 10 Canadian Films of All Time.<ref>"[http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/top-10-canadian-films-of-all-time Top 10 Canadian Films of All Time] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130703002312/http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/top-10-canadian-films-of-all-time |date=3 July 2013 }}," ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'', 2012, URL accessed 28 April 2013.</ref>

In 2011, the Québec magazine ''L'actualité'' ranked it No. 1 on its list of 35 Québec films most worth seeing.

In a 2016 poll conducted of 200 media professionals conducted by the Toronto International Film Festival, Library and Archives Canada, the Cinémathèque québécoise and The Cinematheque Vancouver, it was named one of 150 essential works in Canadian cinema history.

===Awards=== * Cannes Film Festival: Best Actress, Monique Mercure, 1977 * Cannes Film Festival: Nominee: Prize of the Ecumenical Jury, 1977 * 28th Canadian Film Awards, Toronto 1977: :: Best Feature Film :: Best Performance by an Actor, Monique Mercure :: Best Cinematography, Pierre Mignot :: Best Direction, Jean Beaudin :: Best Film Editing, Jean Beaudin and Hélène Girard :: Best Art Direction, Vianney Gauthier ''J.A. Martin Photographer'' was selected as the Canadian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 50th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.<ref>Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences</ref>

==Legacy== American director Robert Altman, whose film ''3 Women'' also screened at Cannes that year (its star Shelley Duvall tied with Mercure for the Best Actress prize) was so impressed that he hired cinematographer Pierre Mignot on nine of his subsequent films, including ''Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean'', ''Streamers'', ''Fool for Love'' and ''Prêt-à-Porter''.

In 2007, The NFB released ''J.A. Martin Photographer'' on DVD. In 2008, it was screened at Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec as part of the exhibition ''Québec City and its Photographers, 1850-1908: The Yves Beauregard Collection''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://artdaily.cc/news/26370/Qu-bec-City-and-its-Photographers--1850-1908--The-Yves-Beauregard-Collection#.ZEQXp87MKUk |title=Québec City and its Photographers |website=artdaily.cc |publisher=Art Daily |access-date=22 April 2023}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==Works cited== * {{cite book|last=Evans |first=Gary |title=In the National Interest: A Chronicle of the National Film Board of Canada from 1949 to 1989 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |date=1991 |url=https://archive.org/details/innationalintere0000evan |isbn=0802027849}} * {{cite book|last=Marshall |first=Bill |title=Quebec National Cinema |publisher=McGill–Queen's University Press |date=2001 |url=https://archive.org/details/quebecnationalci00mars |isbn=0-7735-2103-8}}

==External links== *{{IMDb title|id=0074702|title=J.A. Martin Photographer}} *{{NFB film|j_a_martin_photographe}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:J.A. Martin Photographer}} Category:1977 films Category:1977 drama films Category:Canadian drama films Category:1977 French-language films Category:Films directed by Jean Beaudin Category:National Film Board of Canada films Category:Best Picture Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners Category:Films set in Quebec Category:Films scored by Maurice Blackburn Category:French-language Canadian films Category:1977 Canadian films