fig. a: The gang’s all here
fig. b: front cover
fig. c: back cover
fig. d: “…a close connection between politics and organised crime.”
My copy of Canadian International Pictures' 50th anniversary edition of Denys Arcand's masterful 1973 crime film Réjeanne Padovani arrived earlier this week.
Once again, CIP have put together a beautiful package. I love that the first image (fig. a) above--one of my favourite stills from the film--figures prominently in the booklet.
The slipcover—figures b & c—brilliantly captures the film’s disturbing power: Réjeanne Padovani’s erasure; Vincent Padovani’s involvement in the construction industry and in an urban autoroute project in particular; the fealty and ruthlessness of Padovani’s henchmen.
The final image above—figure d—is another favourite of mine. It’s a shot of the famous ribbon-cutting ceremony at the end of the film that accompanies an interview with Peter Edwards, author of The Encyclopedia of Canadian Organized Crime on the particularities of corruption in Montreal in the 1970s. Years after making Réjeanne Padovani, Arcand had this to say about its inspiration: “When I made Québec: Duplessis and After [1972]…, I witnessed a close connection between politics and organised crime. I would have liked to have shown this connection in the documentary but… it is impossible to convince politicians and their acolytes to disclose anything in front of the camera…. That is the reason I made Réjeanne Padovani: in order to talk about that world.” This is the scene that places a final exclamation mark on Arcand’s treatment of this “close connection.” It does so on the site of the actual Autoroute Ville-Marie project, the highly controversial highway project that ripped up the urban fabric, displaced thousands, greatly expanded the automobile’s domination over the city, and cemented (pun intended) the ties between politics at all levels (municipal, provincial, and federal) and organized crime.
As mentioned earlier, I was honoured to be asked to contribute an audio commentary to this fully restored edition. It's a film I've thought a lot about over the years and one whose analysis of politics and corruption and its impact on Montreal's built environment continues to resonate to this day.
If you’re not familiar with Canadian International Pictures (@cipreleasing), here’s a link to their website, as well as a link to their page dedicated to Réjeanne Padovani.
If you’d like to purchase a copy of the Réjeanne Padovani BRD, you can do so by visiting the good folks at Vinegar Syndrome.
And if you’d like to get a taste of Réjeanne Padovani, here is the film’s trailer: