Ordinary Tenderness

{{short description|1973 Canadian film directed by Jacques Leduc}} {{Infobox film | name = Ordinary Tenderness | native_name = {{Infobox name module|fr|Tendresse ordinaire}} | image = | caption = Film poster | director = [[Jacques Leduc]] | producer = Paul Larose | writer = Robert Tremblay | starring = [[Jocelyn Bérubé]]<br>Esther Auger<br>[[Luce Guilbeault]] | music = [[Plume Latraverse]]<br>Jocelyn Bérubé | cinematography = [[Alain Dostie]] | editing = Pierre Bernier | studio = [[National Film Board of Canada]] | distributor = | runtime = 81 minutes | released = {{film date|1973|4|5}} | country = Canada | language = French | budget = }} '''''Ordinary Tenderness''''' ({{langx|fr|Tendresse ordinaire}}) is a Canadian drama film, directed by [[Jacques Leduc]] and released in 1973.<ref name=pratley>[[Gerald Pratley]], ''A Century of Canadian Cinema''. Lynx Images, 2003. {{ISBN|1-894073-21-5}}. p. 163.</ref> A meditation on the relationship between love and loneliness, the film stars [[Jocelyn Bérubé]] and Esther Auger as a husband and wife who have been apart for several months as he was away working in [[Schefferville, Quebec|Schefferville]]; the film's narrative intercuts between his long drive home at the end of his work assignment, and her time at home impatiently waiting for his arrival.<ref name=canby>[[Vincent Canby]], [https://www.nytimes.com/1974/04/06/archives/canadians-offer-ordinary-tendernessthe-cast.html "Canadians Offer 'Ordinary Tenderness':The Cast"]. ''[[The New York Times]]'', April 6, 1974.</ref>

The cast also includes [[Luce Guilbeault]], Jean-Pierre Bourque, Claudette Delorimier, J.-Léo Gagnon, [[Plume Latraverse]], Tiffany Lee, Jean-René Ouellet, Hélène Tremblay and Véronique Tremblay.<ref>Charles-Henri Ramond, [https://www.filmsquebec.com/films/tendresse-ordinaire-jacques-leduc/ "Tendresse ordinaire – Film de Jacques Leduc"]. ''Films du Québec'', March 19, 2009.</ref>

==Critical response== [[Vincent Canby]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' wrote that "Like the early [[Andy Warhol]], but less spectacularly so, Mr. Leduc is fascinated by the smallest, most common gestures, the drinking of a glass of beer or the maneuvering of a shopping cart through a supermarket. The gestures are not ends in themselves. They are the coded messages of lovers and friends. 'Ordinary Tenderness' is quite unlike any movie I've ever seen. I'm not sure it sustains its feature length. Yet it is a courageous attempt to create a narrative of the emotions tied only loosely to events. Conventional narrative cinema works just the other way around."<ref name=canby/>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *{{IMDb title|0070780}}

[[Category:1973 films]] [[Category:1973 drama films]] [[Category:Canadian drama films]] [[Category:Films shot in Quebec]] [[Category:Films set in Quebec]] [[Category:Films directed by Jacques Leduc]] [[Category:National Film Board of Canada films]] [[Category:1973 French-language films]] [[Category:French-language Canadian films]] [[Category:1973 Canadian films]]