The Crime of Ovide Plouffe

Arcand's direction is in many ways more polished than Gilles Carle's from "Les Plouffe" but the smaller budget shows.

We are shown the post World War Two years in Quebec. The changing morals and fashions. Ovide is still as uptight as he was in the first film. His marriage to the good time girl Rita Toulouse has not brought him the happiness he desired. He is still the Charlie Brown character of the piece.

Lemelin and Arcand try hard to make this into an exciting thriller but fail. There's just not very much to care about. Ovide is not that compelling a character. Gabriel Arcand is a mesmerizing stage actor, but on screen he lacked the charisma to carry the movie to its climax. By the end I really didn't care if he killed his wife or not. Today I don't even remember if he did it or what his fate ultimately was. Lemelin might have done better to follow up with the story of one of the other brothers. Maybe Guillaume.