Year: 1970
Language: French
Format: 16mm Colour/Black & White
Runtime: 78 min
Director: Roger Frappier
Producer: Roger Frappier
Cinematographer: Pierre Mignot, Jérôme Santo, François Roux
Editor: Pierre Lacombe
Cast: Paule Baillargeon, Raymond Cloutier, Jocelyn Bérubé, Guy Thauvette, Suzanne Garceau
Production Company: Les Films Roger Frappier

Le Grand Film ordinaire… is one of two films (the other being 1972’s Montréal Blues) that features Le Grand Cirque ordinaire, a collective theatre group founded in 1969 that used improvisation and drew on traditions of vaudeville and the Commedia dell’Arte. Its tours across Quebec were immensely popular, especially the performance of their first piece, T’es pas tannée Jeanne D’Arc, which formed the basis of this film.

Le Grand Film ordinaire… had been intended as a documentary about the group but eventually became an extension of the original staging of T’es pas tannée Jeanne D’Arc, in which scenes from everyday Québécois life are interwoven with the theatrical circus fable about Joan of Arc in Quebec. It was very popular and reflected the nationalist mood of the time, but also helped launch the seventies generation of independent filmmakers.

By: Peter Morris