OH, CANADA, US, 2024. Starring Richard Gere, Jacob Elordi, Uma Thurman, Victoria Hill, Michael Imperioli. Directed by Paul Schrader. 91 minutes. Rated M (Mature themes, coarse language, nudity and sex scenes).
Written and directed by Schrader, Oh, Canada is based on the novel, Forgone, by American novelist, Russell Banks. Schrader had previously collaborated in the film version of Banks’ novel, Affliction (1998). Schrader notes that he had three bouts of Covid and hospitalisation, saying that he became more conscious of mortality, was interested in Forgone and collaborated with Banks who preferred the title Oh, Canada. Banks himself dying while the film was in production. Before Oh Canada, Schrader was focusing on older men reviewing their lives, First Reform, Card Counter, Master Gardener.
Watching Oh Canada is an interesting and intriguing experience. The film opens with an ominous comment that a son has not seen his father for 30 years. Then the setting up of cameras by a documentary filmmaking trio in the house of a famous documentary filmmaker, Leonard Fyfe, now in his 80s, dying of cancer, an opportunity for him to tell his story for the television audience. The crew have been Leo’s former students, as has been his wife, Emma, living with him for 30 years and concerned for his health and the strain of doing the interview. The other character during the filming is Leo’s full-time nurse.
It is usually pointed out that Paul Schrader came from a strict Calvinist background and has been concerned with religious themes in many of his films. This is not just a documentary about the life and career of Leo, but his opportunity to face the truth and lies of his life, seduction and exploitation, but also skills as a filmmaker and lecturer.
And Leo is played impressively by Gere in his mid-70s, old, almost bald, stubbled chin, experiencing the pain of cancer, determined to go through with the interview, despite the effort and strain, by to tell the truth, uncovering lies, and all the time dedicating this to his wife who, he says, has never known him fully.
The intriguing part of the experience is the range of flashbacks, not always in chronological order, moments of memories by Leo, puzzle pieces for the audience to put together. And, some of them are in bright colour, others in black and white, often stark. The memories are invested with moods, colourful and severe. Most of them go back to 1968, Leo aged 26, his hometown and family, the calling in the priest for a family discussion about his future, his marriage, a son, pregnant wife, prospects, the Vietnam war, the draft, and his decision to avoid the draft – Oh, Canada.
The young Leo is played by Elordi, making an effective contrast with Gere, though Schrader also has the older, but healthier, Gere take Elordi’s place in many of the sequences of the past. His wife, Emma, is played by Thurman (and, indicating confusion of memories, she also plays the wife of his artist friend in 1968.)
There is discussion about photography and filmmaking in black and white flashbacks to the 1990s and his academic career and his eager students. With the filmmaking, Leo has the opportunity for some kind of assessment of his life, acknowledging the good and the bad, the hurt to others, deceit and lies, an opportunity for truth in the deathbed confession.
Transmission
Released 27 March