My Uncle Antoine

It's the not too distant past in the working class Eastern Townships of Quebec. In the approach to Christmas, much of the focus of the town is on the general store, owned and operated by Antoine and Cecile, the former who also acts as the town's undertaker. The focus on the store is due to the Christmas shopping by the townsfolk and their want to see the nativity display in the store's window. Fernand, who works as a clerk in the store, has a secret focus of his own. Also working in the store is teenager Carmen, whose wages go to her abusive father. Because her father does not want her beyond her money earning ability, Carmen lives at the store with Cecile and Antoine. But quietly behind the scenes is the ever seeing Benoit, Cecile and Antoine's nephew who also works at the store and who in his pubescent state is in lust with Carmen. The one person who they probably will not see this Christmas season is Jos Poulin. Like all the other men in town, Jos worked in the asbestos mine, which he hated. As such, he has since left his loving wife Elise and his five children behind to go work in a logging camp. But real life still happens in the Poulin family during his absence, a specific situation which Antoine and Benoit must deal with and which threatens to expose the insecurities in the primarily publicly stoic Antoine.—Huggo