Tit coq

Tit-Coq is set in Québec in the time leading up to World War Two, and after. Tit-Coq (Gratien Gélinas) is the nickname of a French-Canadian soldier who earned his sobriquet thanks to a lifetime of irreverence and volatility. It means, “Little Rooster.” Essentially, Tit-Coq is an unhappy man and that unhappiness is rooted in the fact of his “illegitimate” birth. But his life changes when he meets and falls in love with Marie-Ange (Monique Miller). When he is sent to fight in Europe, Marie-Ange promises to wait for him, but during the many long and lonely months, she succumbs to pressure from her family and, breaking her promise to wait, she marries an old suitor, the wealthy Leoplod Vermette (Jean Duceppe). Tit-Coq learns of the news as the war ends and is angry, bitter and hurt. When he returns home he sets out to reclaim Marie-Ange, who is still in love with him. Tit-Coq turns to his army padre (Paul Dupuis) for help but he explains the realities of the time: a divorce would be virtually impossible for Marie-Ange and any child she might have as a result of their illicit relationship would be a bastard… like Tit-Coq himself. And so “The Little Rooster” ends the way it begins with Tit-Coq alone in the world. Shot in Montreal between October 13 and November 14, 1952, the film is based on a stage play by Gélinas and it became a huge success in Québec. A subtitled English version did almost as well and Tit-coq was named Film Of the Year at the 1953 Canadian Film Awards.