Francine Laurendeau, a renowned film journalist, has departed from us.
Farewell to Parisian Film Critic Francine Laurendeau
Bid adieu to French-Canadian film critic extraordinaire, Francine Laurendeau. She absorbed her last breath in Montreal on a chilly Wednesday. Daughter of the legendary André Laurendeau, the former editor-in-chief of a prominent daily newspaper in town from 1947 to 1961, Francine resided at the top of the film critique world from 1978 to 1995.
Before she graced our screens and radios, Francine expended years of her life as a director and host at Radio-Canada. Last year, Éditions Somme Toute honored her with the publication of a touching tribute book - She Who Loves - which pays homage to her passion for cinema. It's chock-full of her writing, interviews, and anecdotes from various celebs, like Robert Daudelin, Marcel Jean, Louise Portal, and Pierre Jutras. Snapshots of memories, taken by Jean-Claude Labrecque, her better half and an eminent documentary filmmaker, populate the pages, too.
Born in 1936, Francine spent her early years in the cultured and bourgeois neighborhood of Outremont. A budding cinephile from a tender age, she ventured into the realm of cinema via cine-clubs, which were all the rage back then. In 1958, Francine read Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex and took the plunge into student strikes to advocate for universal university access. Jean-Claude Labrecque narrated these events in a documentary film titled The Story of the Three.
French New Wave started making waves in the early '60s, and Francine followed suit, writing her debut film criticism pieces. Her lucrative career rocketed upon her return to Canada. She spent a quarter-century as a captivating cinema spinner on Radio-Canada's cultural channel and succeeded in capturing the hearts of readers with her well-informed discourse on world cinema and Canadian national cinema on our website, as well as on Cinema Quebec and Sequences.
In recent weeks, colleague Jean Bourbeau shared a heart-wrenching account of meeting Francine during pandemic-era volunteer work. He found himself maintaining the living environment in a CHSLD in Saint-Henri. Amid the residents huddled with age and melancholy, there was Francine - a petite, feeble figure whose spirit transcended the gloomy decor. Dressed to the nines and boasting glasses that captured a sharp, unyielding gaze, she spoke with an old-fashioned refinement and accent straight from the wealthy areas of the city. Jean Bourbeau remarked that her nobility in such a desolate setting seemed almost out of place yet utterly alluring.
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- Francine Laurendeau, the renowned French-Canadian film critic, was born in 1936 in the cultured and bourgeois neighborhood of Outremont, Quebec.
- In 1961, French New Wave started making waves, and Francine followed suit, writing her debut film criticism pieces.
- During the pandemic, Francine was a resident in a CHSLD in Saint-Henri, dressed to the nines and boasting a sharp, unyielding gaze, even among the gloomy decor and huddled elderly.
- The publication of a touching tribute book to Francine Laurendeau, titled She Who Loves, was published by Éditions Somme Toute last year, featuring her writing, interviews, and anecdotes from various celebs like Robert Daudelin, Marcel Jean, Louise Portal, Pierre Jutras, and Jean-Claude Labrecque, her better half.
