Les ordres

Official submission from Canada for the 1975 Academy Awards.

When Richard Lavoie is arrested, officers ask him his age and birthday. He answers he's 34 and born on January 31th, 1939. This may seem inaccurate, since the events of the movie are all set in October/November 1970, which would give him 31. However, Richard Lavoie's actor, Claude Gauthier, gave in fact his own birth date and age at the time of filming. This echoes the dual aspect of the movie, when, in the documentary part of the movie, the actors gave their real life's names and personal own anecdotes. By giving his own birth date, the actor communicates that he shares the same fate as the character, that of an artist who has espoused separatism and therefore is exposed to the repression of the federal government; he could have been the one in prison, being asked about his birth date and age.

Edited into La conquête du grand écran (1996)