Micheline Lanctôt

Micheline Lanctôt

 Françoise Micheline Lanctôt, actress, film director, screenwriter, musician (b at Montréal 12 May 1947). Lanctôt's post-secondary education was in music, fine arts and theatre (Collège Jésus-Marie d'Outrement) and in art history (Université de Montréal, École des Beaux-Arts, Montréal) before she switched to film animation - initially at the NATIONAL FILM BOARD and then at the studios of Gerald Potterton, where she stayed for 4 years.

She began her acting career in 1972, winning an Etrog (now called a Genie) award for best female performance for her starring role in Gilles CARLE's La Vrai Nature de Bernadette. Since then, she has accepted roles in films as diverse as Les Corps Célestes (Carle, 1973); Voyage en Grande Tartarie (Jean-Charles Tacchella, 1974) and The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (Ted KOTCHEFF, 1974), which won the Etrog that year for best feature film and the Golden Bear in Berlin. Since then, she has appeared in many films and television productions, including Ti-cul Tougas (Jean-Guy Noël, 1976); Blood Relatives (Claude Chabrol, 1977); Blood and Guts (Paul Lynch, 1978); Mourir à tue-tête (Anne-Claire POIRIER, 1978); and L'Affaire Coffin (Jean-Claude Labrecque, 1980). She starred in the television series written by Guy Fournier for Radio-Canada, Jamais deux sans toi (1977-1980).

Lanctôt has acted in L'Oreille d'un sourd (Mario Bolduc, 1995); La Vengeance de la femme en noir (Roger Cantin, 1995); J'en suis (Claude Fournier, 1996), Aujourd'hui ou jamais (Jean Pierre LEFEBVRE, 1998), Quand je serai parti ... vous vivrez encore (Michel BRAULT, 1999), Le petit ciel (Jean-Sébastien Lord, 2000) and Women Without Wings, by Nicholas Kinsey (2002). In 1994 she directed Oleanna by David Mamet for the Théâtre de Quat'Sous in Montréal, and in 1999, Bousille et les justes by Gratien GÉLINAS for the Théâtre du Rideau Vert.

Author of many articles on the state of filmmaking and the role of women in Québec, Lanctôt has also written novels and worked on film scripts. She wrote the screenplay for La Ligne de la chaleur (1988) by Hubert-Yves Rose, for which she also played the piano, and adapted a novel by Jacques Ferron for Les roses sauvages (1988). In 2000 Lanctôt was awarded the Prix Albert Tessier for her contribution to the arts in Quebec.

Lanctôt's work as a director began with the animated film A Token Gesture (1976), for the NFB. She began her live-action film-directing career with L'Homme à tout faire (1980), nominated for best direction and for best film at the Canadian Film Awards in 1981. This success was followed by Sonatine (1983), which launched the career of Pascale Bussières and won both the Genie for best direction at the Canadian Film Awards and the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1984. Lanctôt's only documentary, La Poursuite du bonheur (1987), was made at the request of the NFB as part of L'américanité series. Onzième spéciale (1989) was made for TV from a script by Louise Roy and Marie Perreault. Deux actrices (1993), an independent production starring Pascale Bussières, was featured at the Toronto International Film Festival and was nominated for best film direction the following year at the Canadian Film Awards. La Vie d'un héros (1994) was shown at both the Toronto International Film Festival and at the Vancouver Film Festival.

For television she has directed The Edge: The Sin of Jesus (1997), adapted from a novel by Isaac Babel, and Talk Radio (2000), for which she was nominated for the Prix Gemeau both for best direction and best dramatic broadcast. Her latest feature film is Le Piëge d'Issoudun (2003).