Ruth

A film by
François Delisle

Ruth

Genre

Fiction

Country

Quebec, Canada

Year

1994

Format

Color - 35mm

Length

70 min

Language

French
Director's notes
Cast

Ariane Frédérique, Frédéric Teyssier, Emmanuel Bilodeau, Micheline Lanctôt, Gaétan Nadeau, Jean Gaudreau, Marcel Pomerlo

Crew

DIRECTING: François Delisle

SCREENPLAY: François Delisle

PRODUCTION : François Delisle (Films 53/12)

CINEMATOGRAPHY: Étienne De Massy

SOUND: Pierre Bertrand, François Guérin, Martyne Morin

MUSIC: Me Mom and Morgentaler

EDITING: Pascale Paroissien

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Synopsis

Ruth is the story of a painful adolescence. Ruth decides on a whim to leave her small village in the Bas-Saint-Laurent for the “real world” of the big city, Montreal. There she meets up with her brother, Jean-Paul. Her many lovers range from one-night stands like Bernard to Yves and Robert, who are briefly in her life. Passionate, anticonformist Ruth has to contend with her brother’s ferocious jealousy – he goes as far as attacking Robert, his best friend.

Robert, completely baffled by Ruth’s cynical recklessness, finally pushes her away. Ruth continues her struggle to find absolute love. She clings passionately, clumsily and shamelessly to those she loves and those she doesn’t, in frenzied desperation. Continually disappointed and shut out by the “real world,” she chooses a way out that is typically extreme...

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Director

About
Biography
François
Delisle

Waiting for the Storms | 2025
CHSLD | 2020
Cash Nexus | 2019
Chorus | 2015
The Meteor | 2013
Twice a Woman | 2010
You | 2007
Happiness is a Sad Song | 2004
Ruth | 1994
Beebe-Plain | 1991
Knife and Gun | 1990
Who cares about the sea! | 1989

Filmography

Born in Montreal in 1967, François Delisle began his career by making short films between 1987 and 1991. His first feature, Ruth (1994), had critics raving and made a name for the director in Canada and Europe. In 2003, after founding his production company Films 53/12, he produced his second film, Happiness is a Sad Song (2004), which won several awards and brought him international acclaim. His next two films, You (2007) and Twice a Woman (2010), had a similar reception. The Meteor (2013) and Chorus (2015) screened at the Sundance and Berlin festivals. Both films were major international hits, screening at festivals and theaters in many countries around the world. In 2019 and 2020, Delisle directed Cash Nexus, his seventh feature, and then CHSLD, a documentary short about his mother in her twilight years. For over 30 years, François Delisle has been exploring the human condition through a personal, uncompromising cinema.

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