Gilles Carle, OC GOQ (July 31, 1928 – November 28, 2009) was a French Canadian director, screenwriter and painter. Gilles Carle, who was a key figure in the development of a commercial Quebec cinema, worked as a graphic artist and writer before he joined the National Film Board of Canada in 1960. His innovative debut feature, La Vie heureuse de Léopold Z., tracked the adventures of a snowplough operator during a madcap Christmas Eve. But after the NFB rejected several of his projects, he began working independently. In 1971 Carle joined forces with Pierre Lamy to form Les Productions Carle-Lamy, which produced Claude Jutra’s epic Kamouraska, Denys Arcand’s early features and all his early films. The quirkily paced, proto-feminist La Vraie Nature de Bernadette – widely regarded as his best film – and Le Mort d’un bûcheron eventually led to the more mainstream but graceful Les Plouffe and the epic love story Maria Chapdelaine, both classics of Quebec cinema. In 1972 Carle won the Canadian Film Award for best Director for his The True Nature of Bernadette. In 1990, he was awarded the Government of Quebec's Prix Albert-Tessier. In 1997, Carle received a Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement, Canada's highest honour in the performing arts. In 1998, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 2007, he was made a Grand Officer of the Ordre National du Quebec. Description above from the Wikipedia article Gilles Carle, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Biography from TMDB.
- July 31, 1928
- November 28, 2009 (aged 81)
- Maniwaki, Quebec, Canada
- Director and writer, also editor
- 3 on MovieCove · 34 credits in all
What are Gilles Carle's films like?
Across a limited sample of 3 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Morality and Bonds.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
A split, not a type: Ironic 2 · Wry 0 · Earnest 1
Light 2 · Serious 0 · Dark 1
Grounded 1 · Stylized 1 · Heightened 1
Gentle 0 · Charged 3 · Intense 0
A split, not a type: Steady 2 · Shifting 1 · Whiplash 0
A split, not a type: Straight-faced 1 · Some laughs 0 · Funny 2
Slow burn 1 · Even-paced 2 · Relentless 0
Casual 2 · Engaged 1 · Full focus 0
Easy watch 1 · Affecting 2 · Heavy 0
A split, not a type: Resolved 1 · Open-ended 2 · Ambiguous 0
Moods and endings
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Gilles Carle's films?
As of October 24, 2026, none of Gilles Carle's 3 MovieCove titles is streaming on a subscription or free service.
Subscription and free streaming for Gilles Carle's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted.
Filmography
34 credits, 3 with a MovieCove page; 3 appearances as themselves are hidden until asked for.
Moi j'me fais mon cinéma (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1999)
Épopée en Amérique (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1997)
Pudding chômeur(1996)
Midcredits score: 12th percentile of all films
Blood of the Hunter (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1995)
The Other Side of the Law (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1994)
The Postmistress (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1992)
The Devil in America (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1990)
50 ans (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1989)
Skybolt (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1986)
Cinéma, cinéma (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1985)
The Crime of Ovide Plouffe (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1984)
Maria Chapdelaine (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1983)
The Great Chess Movie (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1982)
The Plouffe Family (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1981)
Fantastica (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1980)
The Machine Age (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1978)
The Angel and the Woman (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1977)
La Tête de Normande St-Onge (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1975)
The Heavenly Bodies (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1973)
Midcredits score: 74th percentile of all films
The True Nature of Bernadette (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1972)
Les mâles(1971)
Midcredits score: 35th percentile of all films
Red the Half Breed (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1970)
The Rape of a Sweet Young Girl (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1968)
The Merry World of Leopold Z (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1965)
Three Women (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1964)
Percé on the Rocks (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1964)
Solange in Our Countryside or Very Little for Me, the Sun (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1964)
The Big Swim (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1964)
The Rink (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1963)
The Big Swim (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1963)
Un air de famille (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1963)
Manger (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1961)
One Sunday in Canada (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1961)
Career shape
A full career of 34 titles from 1961 to 1999.
How do Gilles Carle's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 35th percentile, the median of all 3; across a limited sample of 3 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 30th percentile for acclaim.
- 50th to 74th1
- 25th to 49th1
- Below 25th1
Shape of the crowd
None of their 3 titles divides audiences: 2 are Mixed.
- Crowd Pleaser1
- Mixed2
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Who does Gilles Carle work with?
People who share at least 2 of Gilles Carle's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; J. Léo Gagnon shares the most, 2.
Actors
- J. Léo GagnonShared titles: The Death of a Lumberjack (1973), Les mâles (1971)See all 2 shared titles with J. Léo Gagnon
Cinematographers
- René VerzierShared titles: The Death of a Lumberjack (1973), Les mâles (1971)See all 2 shared titles with René Verzier
Producers
- Pierre LamyShared titles: The Death of a Lumberjack (1973), Les mâles (1971)See all 2 shared titles with Pierre Lamy
