Le Grande Seduction

The story takes place in a small fishing village of St. Marie-La-Mauderne, Quebec. The people there used to live happily on fishing until one day fishing is banned by the government and everyone then has to live on monthly welfare checks. Everyday men wander aimlessly from their home to local bars. They know jobs are needed to feed their family, and some of them are already moving to cities to make a living. The little village with a hundred and twenty five residents is facing a danger of declining. This worries the mayor a lot.

When a small company finally considers building a factory on the island, the mayor sees a chance to bring back the village its former glory. The only problem is the factory cannot be built without a resident doctor, which is one of the things that the small town does not possess. The mayor sends out tons of letters in the hope of attracting a doctor to his island, but it doesn’t work at all.

One night, the young Dr Lewis, caught for speeding and carrying some cocaine, is sent to the island for a one month trial period. Leading by the mayor, villagers tries everything that can please the doctor and make him stay. The entire village works together to convince Dr Lewis that their village is an ideal place to live. They change their food menu, pretend to play cricket and love jazz music, adjust the women’s dress code and even limit the number of patient everyday. The old mayor brings the young doctor to fish everyday and treats him warmly like his own son.

After a period of time, Dr Lewis feels that the village does need a doctor desperately. When he is still hesitating whether to stay or not, he learns the news that his girlfriend has lied to him for years. This ought to be good news for the village people, because Dr Lewis’s last bound to the outside world is cut. However, the mayor starts to think what this young man will feel when he finds out everything is based on lies. Finally, the mayor decides to tell him the truth. Lewis is shocked at the first moment, but, moved by what the major and the villagers have done for him, he decides to stay at last. At the end of the story, a factory is set up and the happy village comes back to life again.

The movie shed some light on people’s life style in the southeast islands of Canada. The villagers are isolated from the outside world on a certain extent and some of them never step out of their small world for their entire life. What people do most in the daytime will be fishing and worshiping in church. The church also serves another function which is for village meeting. At night, they like to go to the local bars for a drink and watch their favorite games on TV. People live in different ways depending on their different attitudes about life. For the folks in this little fishing village, an easy and peaceful life is what they choose to live.