West of Pluto (French: À l'ouest de Pluton) is a Canadian comedy-drama docufiction film, directed by Henry Bernadet and Myriam Verreault and released in 2008.[1]
Synopsis
The film presents a full day in the life of Quebec teenagers. From waking up through school to an open house , the film puts the viewer in the shoes of the different characters by presenting a selection of typical scenes from teenage life in Quebec. We see teenagers making oral presentations in class, smoking drugs, discussing existential issues, trying to get beer before the legal age, criticizing social uniformity, partying and making love.[2]
The film is acted by a cast of non-professional teen actors, cast from the high school in the Quebec City neighbourhood of Loretteville.[3]
Cast
Alexis Drolet as Jérôme
David Bouchard as Pierre-Olivier
Anne-Sophie Tremblay Lamontagne as Kim
Yoann Linteau as Benoit "Paluche"
Sandra Jacques as Émilie Bégin
Micaël Minguy-Bédard as Nicolas
Yann Bernard as Kevin
Marc-Alexandre Paradis as Steve Labbé
Denis Marchand as Gaetan
Thomas Gionet-Lavigne as Emilie's brother
Caroline Beauséjour as Isa
Frédérique Boivin-Lafrance as Nath
Cynthia Paquet as Véro
Marie-Pier B. Touzin as Jenn
Lise Castonguay as mother of Benoît
Sylvain Brosseau as Mario the Pusher
Virginie Leblanc as Magalie
Marie Frédérique Auger as waitress at Chez Gilles Patate
Mélanie Bouchard-Rochette as Jerome's sister
Odette Lampron as mother of Emilie Bégin
Mario Gagnon as Emilie Bégin's father
Réal Rochette as Jérôme's father
Lina Bouchard as Jerome's mother
Alexandro Rizzo as friend of Paluche
Roger Miville-Deschesnes as convenience store customer
Martin Roy as convenience store clerk
Marie-Sophie Vaillancourt as mother of Pierre-Olivier
Verreault and Bernadet each later emerged with solo film efforts, Verreault with Kuessipan in 2019,[6] and Bernadet with Gamma Rays (Les Rayons gamma) in 2023.[7]
When Telefilm Canada launched its contemporary program of digitally restoring classic Canadian films in the late 2010s, West of Pluto was one of the first films selected by the FNC, with the restored version receiving a screening at the 2021 Festival du nouveau cinéma.[8] Despite this, the film has proven perenially difficult to locate even in its digital version;[9] in 2024, Verreault launched an appeal on social media for a distributor to make the film available, and noted that she has sometimes even resorted to mailing out home-burned DVD-R copies of the film to people who contacted her to ask where they could find it.[10]
