Tideline (film)
Tideline (French: Littoral) is a Canadian-French drama film, directed by Wajdi Mouawad and released in 2004.[1] The film stars Steve Laplante as Wahab, a Lebanese Canadian man whose estranged father (Gilles Renaud) dies, leading Wahab to undertake a trip to Lebanon to bury his father's body in his home country, only to run into complications that send him wandering around the country and reveal aspects of his father's life that he never knew.[2]
| Tideline | |
|---|---|
| French | Littoral |
| Directed by | Wajdi Mouawad |
| Written by | Wajdi Mouawad Pascal Sanchez |
| Based on | Tideline (Littoral) by Wajdi Mouawad |
| Produced by | Brigitte Germain Pascal Judelewicz |
| Starring | Steve Laplante Gilles Renaud Isabelle Leblanc |
| Cinematography | Romain Winding |
| Edited by | Yvann Thibaudeau |
| Music by | Mathieu Farhoud-Dionne Amon Tobin |
Production companies | EGM Productions Les Films de Cinéma |
| Distributed by | TVA Films |
Release date |
|
Running time | 96 min |
| Countries | Canada France |
| Language | French |
The film was adapted from Mouawad's own stage play, and was his first foray into film direction.[3]
Its cast also includes Miro Lacasse, Isabelle Leblanc, David Boutin, Pascal Contamine, Manon Brunelle, Estelle Clareton, Thérèse Boulad, Hani Mattar, Abla Farhoud, Pierre Curzi and Stéphane F. Jacques.
The film premiered in September 2004 at the 2004 Toronto International Film Festival,[4] before premiering commercially in November.[2]
Production
The original play was the winner of the Governor General's Award for French-language drama at the 2000 Governor General's Awards.[5] It was the first part of a thematically related, but not strictly sequential, trilogy of plays about characters of Middle Eastern origins confronting family secrets, followed by Scorched (Incendies) and Forests (Forêts).[6]
The second play formed the basis for the 2010 film Incendies, which was directed by Denis Villeneuve;[7] Forests has not been adapted as a film at all as of 2023.[2]
The portions of the film set in Lebanon were actually filmed principally in Albania.[2]
Critical response
The film received mixed reviews from critics. Sandra Martin of The Globe and Mail rated it three stars, writing that "Mouawad deftly juxtaposes cultural aspirations with the brutal realities of a continuing and forgotten war with a humour that is both poignant and cynical,"[8] while David Laplante of Variety was more critical, writing that "while Laplante deftly conveys the shellshocked frustration of a man jolted out of his comfort zone, director Mouawad’s theatrical approach makes the mannered drama seem increasingly artificial."[1]
Marc-André Lussier of La Presse criticized the film for casting predominantly white québécois actors as Lebanese characters, and wrote that Mouawad had not been entirely successful in transposing the story from a theatrical to a cinematic presentation.[9]
References
- David Rooney, "Tideline". Variety, October 12, 2014.
- Charles-Henri Ramond, "Littoral – Film de Wadji Mouawad". Films du Québec, January 22, 2009.
- Marie-Claude Loiselle, "Littoral de Wajdi Mouawad: Au pays du silence". 24 images, Iss. 119 (Oct/Nov 2004). pp. 12-13.
- Katherine Monk, "Spotlight on Canadians: First-time directors get new showcase for their films". Ottawa Citizen, September 6, 2004.
- Lisa Schmidt, "Anil's Ghost wins again for Ondaatje; Governor General's award is 4th for his latest novel". Hamilton Spectator, November 15, 2000.
- J. Kelly Nestruck, "Mouawad fails, but in an interesting way". The Globe and Mail, July 20, 2009.
- Nelson Wyatt, "Author of Incendies, the play, praises movie version". Toronto Star, February 24, 2011.
- "Reviews". The Globe and Mail, September 10, 2004.
- Marc-André Lussier, "Littoral: une transposition plutôt décevante". La Presse, September 14, 2004.