LE VENDEUR (Canada 2011) ****
Directed by Sebastien Pilote

LE VENDEUR (THE SALESMAN) begins with a slowly shot montage of a dead moose removed from a snow bordered road.  The scene, an important one in the film’s plot development is re-visited half way through the film.

Once the segment and a few of the opening credits done, writer/director Sebastien Pilote moves his camera across the small wintry industrial Quebec town of Lac Saint-Jean.  Snow is everywhere and the audience can tell that is cold from the movement of the people and the show covered landscape.  Pilote’s film is a slow moving but craftily planned one, and one then eventually turns out to be an emotionally powerful film for two reasons.  Pilote builds his characters and his film allows the audience the opportunity to think.
characters and plot development.
The protagonist of the film is LE VENDEUR or the car salesman from the town’s autodealer.  Marcel Lévesque (Gilbert Sicotte), a 65+ but still quick-witted car salesman nearing retirement, lives to sell.  He has been salesman of the month for the last sixteen years at the dealership where he has spent his career.  But Lac Saint-Jean is a town that is declining as the huge paper plant that used to employ over 2000 residents is about to shut down its doors for good.  And where it’s cold enough to scare away the tourists and buying a car sometimes seems completely absurd.  But there’s just one thing on Marcel’s mind: getting his beloved Detroit rides off the lot.  Marcel Lévesque is a salesman from a bygone era, a man who learned his trade by telling tales - “fibs dressed up with flowers” - and making his customers happy.  But as the film progresses, a tragedy will change everything for this peddler of dreams.

That is enough said or perhaps that is already too much of the plot revealed.  But Pilote’s film is not about incidents but about people – their reactions, emotions and purpose in life.  The audience finds in this movie, real life characters with real problems that affects their feelings.  It is guaranteed that the audience will be moved by both Marcel’s life and his reactions to the tragedy.

LE VENDUER was voted the top 10 Canadian films for 2011.  LE VENDEUR, a major surprise needs or should be seen for both its sheer simplicity and power.