With an unlikely hero who apparently excels at almost anything, this confused saga of survival in the wilderness and accidental murder starts out hard to believe and stays that way. C.H. (Luc Matte) used to be a star player for the Montreal Canadiens and has turned in his puck and hockey stick for the pursuit of women -- as well as a good game of chess (he is a master at that too). He supports himself by waiting tables and one day takes some time off to go on vacation in the Quebec wilderness, where some local thugs give him a hard time. From that point onward, things get worse after one of the hooligans is accidentally killed.
Between her four children, her husband, her job at the hardware store, and the creditors on her back, Hélène leads a life that dangerously resembles a makeshift camp in a constant state of emergency. She muddles through as best she can.
"At 75, Ariane retraces the thread of her life. Through her story and thanks to a meticulous and subtle montage of thousands of pieces of film shot by amateurs between 1925 and 1980, this film weaves the entire history of women in Quebec, from the era of land clearing to modern feminism." -- Cinémathèque québécoise
