Montreal, 1947


Françoise Micheline Lanctôt – actress, screenwriter, musician and film director – studied music, fine arts and theatre at the Collège Jésus-Marie d'Outrement and art history at the Université de Montréal before spending a year at the École des Beaux-Arts. She switched her focus to film animation in the late 1960s, initially working at the National Film Board and then at the Gerald Potterton studios, where she stayed for four years.

Lanctôt's work as a film director began with the animated film A Token Gesture (1975), made for the NFB. Drawn to exploring the lives of misfits and outsiders, she began directing live-action film with L'homme à tout faire (1980), which was nominated for best direction and best film at the 1981 Canadian Film Awards. This success was followed by Sonatine (1983), which launched the career of Pascale Bussières and won both the Genie for best direction and the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1984. The only documentary Lanctôt has made, La poursuite du bonheur (1987), was at the request of the NFB as part of L'américanité series. She made Onzième spéciale (1988) for TV from a script by Louise Roy and Marie Perreault. Deux actrices (1993), an independent production, again starring Pascale Bussières, was featured at the Toronto International Film Festival and was nominated for best film direction the following year at the Genie Awards. La vie d'un héros (1994) was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival and the Vancouver Film Festival.

Since then, Lanctôt has directed The Edge: The Sin of Jesus (1997), adapted from a novel by Isaac Babel, and Talk Radio (2000), both for television. She was nominated for the Prix Gémeau for best direction and best dramatic broadcast for Talk Radio. Her latest theatrical feature is Le piège d'Issoudun (2002).

Lanctôt’s acting career began earlier, in 1972, when she won an Etrog (now Genie) for best female performance for her starring role in Gilles Carle's La vraie nature de Bernadette. Although no other film has allowed her to achieve the full radiance of her portrayal of Bernadette, Lanctôt has acted in films as diverse as Les corps célestes (Carle, 1973), Voyage en grande Tartarie (Jean-Charles Tacchella, 1974) and The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (Ted Kotcheff, 1974). The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, which won the Etrog for best feature film and the Golden Bear at Berlin, did offer Lanctôt a small but substantial role.

She has appeared in many films and television productions, including Ti-cul Tougas (Jean-Guy Noël, 1976); Blood Relatives (Claude Chabrol, 1977); Blood and Guts (Paul Lynch, 1978); Mourir à tue-tête (Anne-Claire Poirier, 1978); and L'affaire Coffin (Jean-Claude Labreque, 1979). She also starred in the television series Jamais deux sans toi (1977–1980) written by Guy Fournier for Radio-Canada. More recent performances include roles in the films L'oreille d'un sourd (Mario Bolduc, 1995); La vengeance de la femme en noir (Roger Cantin, 1997); J'en suis (Claude Fournier, 1996); Aujourd'hui ou jamais (Jean Pierre Lefebvre, 1998); Quand je serai parti… vous vivrez encore (Michel Brault, 1999); Le petit ciel (Jean-Sébastien Lord, 1999) and Women Without Wings by Nicholas Kinsey (2002). In 1994, Lanctôt directed Oleanna by David Mamet for the Théâtre de Quat' Sous in Montreal, and in 1999, the play Bousille et les justes by Gratien Gélinas for the Théâtre du Rideau Vert.

A prolific writer as well, Lanctôt has written a number of novels, and is the author of many articles on the state of filmmaking and the role of women in Quebec. She has also worked on film scripts; she wrote the screenplay for La ligne de la chaleur (1986) by Hubert-Yves Rose and adapted a novel by Jacques Ferron for Les roses sauvages (1988).

In 2000, Micheline Lanctôt was awarded the Prix Albert-Tessier for her contribution to the arts in Quebec.