He was a legend in Quebec cinema, as big as they come, and in Canadian cinema too, but in the space of a mere 48 hours, that legendary status has been shattered completely.
Montreal-born, Claude Jutra, actor, writer, and documentary and feature filmmaker who committed suicide in 1986 in the face of approaching Alzheimer’s disease, had been built up as a star in Quebec cinema. His slightly dark introspective films of Quebec life such as Mon Oncle Antoine, and Kamouraska, are both now considered Quebec and Canadian film classics.
On Tuesday a biography was released which contained allegations that Jutra was a paedophile engaging in sex acts with underage boys.
Eli Glasner is an arts reporter and film critic with CBC, and talks about the rise and catastrophic fall of Claude Jutra.
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Jutra was honoured with street names, parks, and the entire Quebec cinema awards gala and trophy were named after him.
No sooner had the biography by Yves Lever been released on Tuesday than people began urging caution, saying the comments about sex abuse of boys were allegations only.
That was all swept away the very next day with an article in a Montreal newspaper from a man claiming Jutra, a family friend, had begun abusing him at age 6, and had continued for years.
That was all it took, and reaction has been swift.
Quebec Cinema which has hosted the mostly French speaking province’s film awards gala since 1999, announced that very morning they would rename the “Jutra awards” and seek a new trophy.
The mayor of Montreal said Jutra’s name would be removed from a park and a street , while mayors of several other towns said they too will change the name of their Claude Jutra streets.
The Canadian cinema awards which had a Claude Jutra trophy has announced it too will withdraw the name to be replaced by simply, The Canadian Screen Award for Best First Feature.
The news has thrown the annual Quebec film awards ceremony into a scramble as the event is scheduled for March 20th.
The Jutra awards website has since been taken offline. A new trophy is hurriedly being commissioned and a temporary name for the televised event may simply be “le Gala du Cinema Quebecois” As film critic Eli Glasner says, the recent revelations will likely cause people to look at his films in a different way, and that people are now “wrestling with that legacy and what that means.” Whether the art can be separated from the private scandal offscreeen, remains to be seen.
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