A kiss on top of a frozen lake is a spark from which a Quebecois family begins. In the ensuing decades of love and loss the family has a beautiful home, a puppet workshop that is as profitable as it is fulfilling, a white cedar grove to walk through and everything needed to be happy. Yet there is a shadow cast over them. The sensitive, kind and talented family patriarch, David, struggles with depression. His daughter Laurence, as sensitive and artistically gifted as her father, is just as prone to dark thoughts. The specter haunts and controls David and Laurence even as it fuels their artistic prowess. It does so with unseen and perhaps unknowable strings.
The film's theme is poignant and resonant. The main actor, Maxim Gaudette, is a wonder to behold. Some of his support is not so great, yet they are not so distracting. Director Anne Emond presents the story in a novel way. She sometimes, for instance, plays uplifting music at sad events. The contrast in moods creates a weird feeling. In afterthought it was a good way to dramatize the events of the story without dwelling in them. The story took turns I didn't expect and it came together quite well. Seen at the 2016 Miami International Film Festival.
