Isabel

Learning of her mother’s serious illness, Isabel (Geneviève Bujold) returns to her family’s farm on the Gaspé Peninsula but her mother dies before she can get there. Days after the funeral she is left in a dark, lifeless home with her aged and ailing uncle Matthew (Gerard Parkes) and images of the family’s history, which includes domestic violence and incest as well as the mysterious deaths of her grandfather, who died in a freak accident, and her father and brother, who both drowned at sea. The house itself is full of eerie sights and sounds. Her relationship with a local (Marc Strange) helps her to escape her dark past. The film`s cinematography perfectly mirrors the young woman’s feelings with its dark, foggy landscapes. One of Bujold’s early English-speaking roles, Isabel won four Canadian Film Awards for Actor (Parkes), Actress (Bujold), Cinematography and Editing.

Isabel is the first of Paul Almond’s trilogy of films made with his then wife, Bujold. It was one of the first Canadian features to be picked-up for distribution by a major Hollywood studio, Paramount Pictures.

The image of Geneviève Bujold was scanned from a promotional still set in the Northernstars Collection.