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Florence

Drama in two parts by Marcel Dubé adapted for the theatre from a teleplay, premiered at the Comédie-Canadienne, October 20, 1960, directed by Louis-Georges Carrier, set by Jacques Pelletier, featuring Monique Miller,Denise Pelletier, Mariette Duval, Collette Andrée, Jean Duceppe, Guy Provost, Gilles Comptois and Hubert Loiselle.

The set consists of an office, a family's dining room and an apartment. Although this work has an old-fashioned structure, it has a fairly new theme (for the time): the changing women of Quebec.

This gentle little melodrama centres on Florence, a young woman who must come to terms with her need for independence and her naïveté about the world, especially men. She works as a receptionist in an ad agency and is in love with her boss, a cad.

Then we see her family: squabbles with her brother, the intense but simple love of her parents. The choices Florence makes throw everyone's life into relief and through her we see the edges of the two insurgent movements in Quebec society: the women's movement and the Quiet Revolution. We learn, through Florence, that change does not come easily.

Critical reaction was similar as that for Le Temps des lilas; Dubé was praised for his keen sense of observation but also, again, for a lack of dramatic vigour. Most enthusiastic was Le Devoir: "...one of the most pleasant evenings one could hope for."

Commentary by Gaetan Charlebois.

Last updated 2016-04-10