La petite Aurore l'enfant martyre

A black version of Cinderella or the story of a Cosette who would never see a Jean Valjean come to her rescue , this story is neither fairy tale nor novel:it's based on real life events and it's quite plausible, for, read the newspapers ,these awful facts are still happening today everywhere in 2020.

In its own way ,it's more terrifying than the latest horror flick ,full of special effects ; it's a low-budget film,and its treatment is almost banal ,in its stark black and white.Watch Lucie Mitchell -whose playing was so intense though restrained ,thus all the more scary- and then try to forget her:they say that the actress received death threats after the film .

If Marie -Louise can strike horror into our hearts , one can also put the blame on the father (can a person be so blind, so weak ,or is he simply a moron?) and on the priest (why didn't he send the victim to a convent , dad hinted at it in a previous scene?).Only the generous neighbor seems to realize the danger : a person with a big heart , she will imitate Victor Hugo's fishermen in "la legende des siècles ": although not rich at all, she will take in the waifs.

This piece of "french canadiana" is probably the most well known film of its time in Quebec. Although it was a smash hit when it came out, with the passing of time La petite Aurore l'enfant martyre basically became a twisted cult favorite among a younger and more cynical generation of film buffs. The story is a very sad one, depecting the agony of a young girl who has to cope with a violent mother-in-law. This is typically a film "so bad it's great". If you like overblown melodrama, bad acting, awful organ music and over the top moralistic endings you will definitely enjoy this movie!

A lot of people admits Plan Nine From Outer Space is the worst film of all time. But this 1952 French Canadian movie is just a little bit near to win the title. Acting are awful, story is very very stupid and anything's about this movie is extremely bad: film direction, sets, and music (Big old Hammond organ all the way!). In a very poor countryside of Quebec, a little girl lost her dear mother. Her father marries another woman. This woman hates the little girl. So she tortures her. She hits her with sticks, with iron, she push her in stairways, she don't feed her, she burns her hands on the stove, she made her eat soap (yes!) etc. But nobody's seem to notice, despite that the little girl look like a zombie. But at the end of the film, a neighbour seem to notice there is something strange about this kid... Then comes the priest and the holy man realise what's wrong. The bad woman is sentenced to death. But the little girl, now an angel, forgives her. Can you image worst melodrama? I can't! See this film! You will never forget it, in the same way people of today loves Plan Nine From Outer Space.

Yes, I agree with the precedent comment. The movie is totally insignificant and awful. The melodrama is boring. Nothing to compare with the theatrical play. But, I don't agree with the external position of the comment. Aurore is not only a movie for Quebec but, spinning around the emergence of identity, a starting point for the creation of a modern myth. The movie is nothing else than a transcription of the myth, an insignificant reading, trying to accomodate the still-living Telesphore Gagnon and the public ( a public who accepts everyday soaps and soaps). Based upon real facts ( yes, in the witnesses declarations, nobody noticed, yes), the movie had crystallized poorly for one of the last time (before the play adaptation of Cyr) the emergence of childhood and identity in Quebec. It's impossible to negotiate this case ( 47 ecchymoses of all ages on the body , etc is impossible here)with the sacro-sainte distance of the cinema purist. Waiting for a movie with, about Aurore Gagnon with powerful screenplay and acting! Arnaud LaRuelle

Thanks to those who gave positive strokes to this early Quebec film production! In this era when Canadian culture is fighting for its survival under an inundation/flood of mostly violent mass produced mediocre films from their southern neighbor, "La Petite Aurore" 1952 was a first/second local French Canadian attempt to tell a story that mattered to the community. Provided with a meager budget, poor equipment, inexperienced support and rookie actors, Aurore did extremely well for the days. It was for the time, the best that could be done with the means at hand AND IT WAS A FIRST (or second)for the French Canadian cinema in it's infancy. This movie is also unique because it specifically touched a population who was mostly living under the same conditions and religious societal structure that existed in the community where the film drama took place. Most viewers identified to the players involved in the movie. Finally, the distribution of this movie was to expose the horrible demise of an innocent child that took place under the nose of a mute "anytowm Quebec" under circumstances that were so common at the time (infantile death, high maternal mortality, high farm accident rates for the men, and rural poverty). Imagine the reaction of our American cousins if we replaced their sitcoms with humor from BBC (England) and the rest with Miniseries from Radio Canada, enough to get us invaded! French Canadians lived in a closed circuit community, often treated as tenants or second rated citizens of a land they owned (along with the natives) under the scrutiny of wealthy English speaking manufacturers & nobility. The feelings expressed in this production had been experienced by each Quebecois of that era. Sure, it did not had the Hollywood luster or polish and the depth of French made movies but it addressed issues and hardships that poor large rural French Canadian families dealt with on a daily basis and could identify with very well. I offer my admiration and respect to all our ancestors who paid with their life, for the heritage we hopefully enjoy. For those interested in an interactive investigation of the true story of this young martyr, please go to the following websites in English and Francais: http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/gagnon/indexen.html Sincerely, Guy "Lancelot" Lapointe-Nowlan or Lancelot1953@msn.com