Surfacing (film)

Surfacing
Directed byClaude Jutra
Written byBernard Gordon
Based onSurfacing by Margaret Atwood
Produced byBeryl Fox
Starring
CinematographyRichard Leiterman
Edited byToni Trow
Music by
Release date
  • 23 July 1981 (1981-07-23) (Canada)
Running time
89 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish

Surfacing is a 1981 Canadian drama film directed by Claude Jutra and starring Kathleen Beller, R. H. Thomson, Joseph Bottoms, Michael Ironside and Margaret Dragu.[1] The film was written by Bernard Gordon as an adaptation of Margaret Atwood's novel Surfacing (1972).

The film received mixed reviews, with criticism of Bottoms' performance, and praise for Dragu’s.[2][3][4] The film garnered one Genie Award nomination at the 3rd Genie Awards, for songwriter Ann Mortifee in the Best Original Song category.

Atwood's novel was widely considered "unfilmable",[1] and Jutra's adaptation was not considered successful.[1] He had been brought in as director only at the last minute, after original director Eric Till dropped out;[5] it was also the first narrative feature film ever produced by Beryl Fox, who was primarily known as a documentary filmmaker.[5] In addition, the film was criticized for casting Beller and Bottoms, actors from the United States, in a film adaptation of a novel with themes of Canadian nationalism, as well as for giving Bottoms top billing even though Beller's character was the novel's primary protagonist.[5] Jutra rebounded the following year with the more successful and better-received By Design.[5]

  1. ^ a b c Claude Jutra at the Toronto International Film Festival's Canadian Film Encyclopedia.
  2. ^ Andrews, Marke (July 24, 1981). "The Stripper Is Surfacing". The Vancouver Sun: C1.
  3. ^ Walsh, Michael (26 Jul 1981). "Surfacing is Shallow". The Province: 95.
  4. ^ Taylor, Noel (Nov 9, 1981). "Superior Canadian Film Surfaces". The Ottawa Citizen: 48.
  5. ^ a b c d Jim Leach, Claude Jutra: Filmmaker. McGill-Queen's University Press, 1999. ISBN 978-0773520059.