Jean Lapointe: outstanding roles in the cinema

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In addition to shining on stage, Jean Lapointe had a fine career as an actor on the big screen, appearing in several of the most significant Quebec films of the 1970s. < /p>

From Orders to J.A Martin, Photographer via Hot water, hot water , Ok… Laliberté and Ding and Dong: the film, Jean Lapointe has acted in around thirty feature films.

We forget it, but it's in the erotic comedy Two Golden Women, released in 1970, that he took his first steps in the cinema. The director of the film, Claude Fournier, did not fail to underline this, paying tribute to the singer and actor who died yesterday at the age of 86.

“Dear Jean Lapointe, hello! Nobody dares to say, of course, that your first role in the cinema, it will have been Two women in gold, wrote Claude Fournier on Twitter. We prefer to mention Duplessis, it's more chic. I had to insist that Jean Lapointe play a role in Two Golden Women. He was nervous, but also titillated. Farewell dear actor, dear friend.”

After the release of Two Golden Women, Jean Lapointe chained the roles in the cinema. We have seen him as much in popular comedies (The apple, the tail and the pips, Ti-Mine, Bernie pis la gang) and in dramas that shone at major international festivals (Les Ordres, L’eau chaud, l’eau frette, J.A. Martin, Photographer…).

A comeback

After taking a break from the 7th art in the 1980s, Jean Lapointe briefly returned to the cinema in 1990 to star in Une histoire invented and in the popular comedy Ding et Dong: le film. p>

But it was in the early 2000s that he made a real comeback to the big screen. From 2000 to 2004, he made three films in quick succession, including The Last Tunnel, a thriller by filmmaker Érik Canuel (Bon Cop, Bad Cop) which recounts the spectacular theft of bank orchestrated by the criminal Marcel Talon, in 1993.

Canuel also paid tribute to Jean Lapointe in a message published yesterday on his Facebook page:

“Our meeting was brief but so rewarding for the director that I was at that time, wrote Canuel, speaking directly to the late actor. Thank you again for this breathtaking interpretation which earned you the recognition of your great talent. Your crossing has left no one indifferent both in the profession and in your charitable works. Kudos to the man you were and are. You will stay with us for a long time.”

Jean Lapointe's last film appearance dates back two years, in the dramatic comedy Mon cirque à moi.

Jean Lapointe in six unforgettable performances: 

Orders (1974)

Jean Lapointe is unforgettable in the skin of the labor unionist Clermont Boudreau in this film by Michel Brault considered one of the great masterpieces of Quebec cinema. Presented in competition at the Cannes Film Festival – where it won the prize for directing – Les Ordres recounts the events of the October 1970 crisis by following five fictional characters arrested and imprisoned following of the passage of the War Measures Act.

Hot Water, Hot Water (1976) 

Jean Lapointe offers another memorable composition in the guise of Polo, known as “the shylock of the Plateau”, in this classic by André Forcier released in 1976. The film features a group of teenagers who plot an assassination while throws a party to celebrate Polo's 43rd birthday.

J.A. Martin, Photographe (1977) 

The 1970s were flourishing in cinema for Jean Lapointe. After having shone in The Orders and Hot water, hot water, the actor had the chance to play in this other classic of Quebec cinema which allowed Monique Mercure to win the prize for female interpretation at the Cannes Film Festival.

Duplessis (1977)

At the height of his art, Jean Lapointe delivered an exceptional performance as Maurice Duplessis in this seven-episode mini-series devoted to the life of the former Premier of Quebec and scripted by none other than Denys Arcand.

An Invented Story (1990) 

Fifteen years after the release of L hot water, hot water, Jean Lapointe reconnected with filmmaker André Forcier for this film in which he slips into the shoes of a declining jazz trumpet player who returns to Montreal and is hired in a jazz club.

At the origin of a cry (2010) 

Jean Lapointe offers one of his finest recent performances at the cinema in this poignant drama by Robin Auber t (The Hungry). Lapointe plays an alcoholic grandfather who goes on the road with his grandson (Patrick Hivon) to find his son (Michel Barrette).