Return to tiff.’s home page

Canadian Film Encyclopedia

Shopping Cart
 

La Grenouille et la Baleine

(The Tadpole and the Whale)

Year: 1988
Language: French
Format: 35mm Colour
Runtime: 92 min
Director: Jean-Claude Lord
Producer: Rock Demers
Writer: André Melançon
Cinematographer: Tom Burstyn
Editor: Hélène Girard
Sound: Serge Beauchemin, Pierre Blain, Claude Langlois
Music: Normand Dubé, Guy Trépanier
Cast: Jean Lajeunesse, Lise Thouin, Fanny Lauzier, Denis Forest, Marina Orsini, Félix-Antoine Leroux
Production Company: Les Productions La Fête

Daphne (Fanny Lauzier), or "little tadpole" as she is known to her friends and family, lives in idyllic splendour on the St. Lawrence River’s North Shore, where she is as much at home in the water as she is on land. Because of her highly developed sense of hearing, Daphne can communicate with the humpback whales and dolphins that frequent the area each summer and who seem to respond to the sounds of her recorder.

But the stability of Daphne’s world is threatened when the inn her parents operate is put up for sale by the estranged brothers who own it. Daphne struggles to reconcile the two stubborn brothers and also save the life of B-Minor, her favourite whale.

Though marred by a predictable and sentimental plot that could have been created for "The World of Disney," La Grenouille et la Baleine is a simple, affecting story and features a winning and charming performance by twelve-year-old Lauzier. The sixth film in Rock Demers’s Tales for All series of family films, La Grenouille et la Baleine won the Golden Reel Award for highest box-office gross and was nominated for three other Genie Awards.

Related Entries