The Gardener

Sorry I am not an aficionado on the subject. We learned about this fabulous Canadian area and its famous hotel where the Donald made himself a fool. It's a dreamland to those of us who are bound to the American southwest for our work (including everyone at Hollywood).

This exceptional 2017 documentary film on Frank Cabot's Les Quatre Vents. The film is about an extraordinary giant garden park designed by Cabot, an American businessman who immigrated to the Nova Scotia area circa mid-20th century.

Here in Los Angeles we go to the Huntington Gardens. It is our hope to someday travel across country to the northeastern part of the North American continent, Montreal etc and also to visit Cabot's Gardens during that vacation trip. In the meantime, we have this film to remind us of this special place we wont want to miss.

Absolutely stunning gardens. Quebec is so beautiful and to have this man make these wonderful gardens throughout his life is magnificent. Thank god he used his money to create beauty instead of building worthless buildings. This is a wonderful documentary. Thank you.

Ignore childish reviews like thesandman... the man did many constructive things with his time and money. Ask yourself what you would do if born into money?

As you might guess, they'll be no superheroes racing across your screen in this quiet and cerebral documentary. I can state that I know as little about gardening and horticulture as I do about nuclear physics, and that's not much. Yet I found this film offered me some peace and serenity away from this full speed ahead world we live in.

It centers on the wondrous gardens, named Les Quatre Vents. designed and maintained by Francis H. Cabot, its 20 acres located in La Malbaie, Quebec. The interviews with Cabot, an acclaimed horticulturalist, designer, and philanthropist were filmed in 2009 and he passed away in 2011 at the age of 86. It appears that the DVD version was released just last year, however, and I found my copy at the local library.

Cabot, who moved from Boston to La Malbaie with his wife Anne, in 1965. recounts how he slowly got into gardening in middle age after setbacks in the business world. He talks about how he wanted his gardens to offer a theatrical, sensual, and emotional experience to those that view them but also to offer fun and whimsy so that each individual can take out of their experience something special. They'll be surprises as well along the way which is exactly the way Cabot wanted it.

As time went on, Cabot and his family began to open up the gardens to public tours, mainly to help charities and conservation groups. His legacy continues on in preservation societies throughout the America and Canada.

Overall, obviously this doc is not for those viewers who are looking for an action flick. But for those who want to escape from the world for an hour and a half and enter a rather wondrous place, as well as get some idea of what goes into creating and preserving such a place, then you may find some real rewards here.

I greatly enjoyed this lovely little documentary about a beautiful garden in Canada. Yes, some of the wealth on display is off-putting, but that didn't detract from my enjoyment of this film.