The Auction (2013)

Really Surprised!

Admirable film.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Gaby Gagnon owns a sheep farm left to him by his father in Quebec. He's a simple old man of simple means. His daughter Marie visits him with her two sons. She tells him that she left her absentee husband Steve. She wants $200k to keep the house and buy out Steve. He can't get a loan. After spending his life giving everything to his daughters, he considers selling the farm.There is a dignified sadness to the farmer. It seems to be a simple idea with a quietly powerful concept. Then the dog happens and the movie takes it to another level. His brother shows up. More is revealed about his life. There is a powerful scene with his other daughter. It could probably be tightened up a little but I wouldn't cut any of the major scenes. The performances are pitch perfect and it is such a poignant movie.

This independent film, written and directed by Sebastien Pilote, offers the viewer lots of quiet realism. For those that have the patience to allow a drama to unfold at its' own pace, enhanced by fine acting, you may very well find rewards here with this movie.Gabriel Arcand powerfully portrays Gaby, a 63-year-old life-long sheep farmer, in the beautiful countryside of Quebec Province, Canada. He's been divorced for 20 years, and only sees his two daughters Marie (Lucie Laurier) and Frederique (Sophie Desmarais) occasionally, as they live in Montreal. He does have his trusty companion and work dog with him, is visited by his neighbor friend Louis (Gilles Renard) who helps him with his financial books, and gets part-time help on the farm by a local boy.However Gaby's world is jolted when he receives a visit from Marie, and her two sons, who tells her father she's now separated from her husband, and asks Gaby if he can lend her $200,000 so she can buy out her husband's interest in their home and save it from foreclosure.Gaby is in lots of debt with his farm, which is barely showing any profits, and quickly realizes that if he wants to help his daughter he may have to sell his farm. Although others tell him he's being manipulated by Marie, Gaby feels that a father has to give to his family to happy.If he's to go ahead with the auction of his farm, Gaby will have to face the cold-hearted realities of the process of selling all of his possessions, including the land, the sheep, his home etc., and begins to see the emotional toll this can take on him. However, at the same time, he sees it as a way of breaking free of a life he's been toiling at for decades, with few rewards, and enable him to be closer to his family.There are some nonsensical decisions that Gaby will make along the way, but overall I found this film to be a poignant and powerful drama, enhanced by superb acting all around, and wonderful cinematography.

According to a World Bank report published in 2012,the population density (number of people per square kilometer) in Canada was last reported at 3.75 in 2010.This explains how peculiar is the case between land and people in Canada,a huge nation with vast land resources where it is almost impossible to find a human soul for hundreds of kilometers.A very small part of this aspect has been depicted by director Sébastien Pilote in his latest film "Le Démantèlement"/The Dismantling.At the core of the film is Gaby a quiet farmer who is happy living on his farm with his dog and sheep.The arrival of his daughter with financial worries and other circumstances force him to part with his farm and its animals which he reared as if they were his own children. The clash between ancient and modern is quite evident in this film as Gaby has not known any other form of life beyond the confines of his farmhouse. This is why something as elementary as an internet connection does not make much sense to him. Like in his first film "The Salesman",director Sébastien Pilote seems to continue with his concern for the underdog and a way of life which would soon disappear. He shows us that Gaby is an ordinary man whose disappearance would herald the disappearance of a good part of the village. There are religious associations too with this film.However, it would not matter a lot to this film if they are kept in the background. The film is rich in its narrative structure and clearly explains what is happening in Gaby's life and under what circumstances ? Actor Gabriel Arcand, brother of important Canadian director Denys Arcand, looks extremely convincing in his role as Gaby-a farmer who sacrifices everything to make his family happy. What makes his help special is that he does not boast at all about what he is doing.Lastly, a great film for those who are researching the phenomenon of the disappearance of smaller town and cities and factors related to it.

In Sebastien Pilote's The Auction, the aging sheep farmer's daughter Frederique (Sophie Desmarais) may be playing Cordelia on a Montreal stage but her father is an anti-Lear. Farmer Gaby Gagnon (Gabriel Arcand), his advancing age reflected in the orange sunsets and autumn landscapes, divests himself of his modest "empire" not out of vanity, selfishness, and the desire to keep only the trappings of power, but out of a genuine devotion to his two daughters. Despite their callousness towards him and their known manipulation he gives up everything he has for them. Lear wants to keep taking. But for Gaby, "A father needs to give to be happy."At the end Frederique has a sense of his sacrifice but the primary beneficiary, the spoiled Marie (Lucie Laurier), remains blissfully unaware of how much her father has given up for her convenience. The farmer's trade in sheep gives his farming a Christian reference, which is bolstered when some black Moslems buy a sheep for a sacrifice and feast on his farm. Though Gaby seems to be living for the wide open spaces of his rolling acreage his world is constantly defined by fences and pens. That's the extent of the good father's freedom. For more see www.yacowar.blogspot.com.