In Oh, Canada, director/screenwriter Paul Schrader has given his actors a stage on which to show their skills.
The 95-minute film depicts an aging documentarian, Leo Fife (portrayed by Richard Gere), as the subject of what is likely a last filmed interview that becomes a confession of past infidelities.
It’s set in Leo’s home, where two of his former film students (played convincingly by Victoria Hill and Michael Imperioli) are shooting their own documentary about Leo.
Leo, who has become a noted Canadian documentarian of liberal political films, is dying of cancer and under the effects of pain medications. The interview, which is meant to summarize Leo’s work, becomes a spoken and confused confession of Leo’s early life, of his avoidance of the military draft during the Vietnam war, of his leaving of a young wife and son, and of his entry into Canada to begin a new life.
The actor Jacob Elordi portrays the young Leo in flashbacks, showing Leo as a self-centered and unkind man. Uma Thurman plays Leo’s third wife, who is lovingly caring for her dying husband, but who becomes increasingly disturbed by the confused recounting of his early life and who finally calls a stop to the filming.
Gere, Thurman, and Elordi are excellent in a movie that is sad and unrelenting in its depiction of Leo’s wrongdoing and of Emma’s growing awareness of her husband’s hidden life and his likely near death. Their realistic portrayals are often difficult to watch, but if you want to observe great film acting in a tight, almost stage-like setting, see Oh, Canada.
Editor’s Note: Oh, Canada is now playing at The SLO Film Center at the Palm Theatre.