105 minutes – Comedy
Release date: October 17, 2003
DVD release date: July 27, 2004
Canadian distributor: Alliance Vivafilm

La face cachée de la lune, is based on the play of the same title by Robert Lepage. The leading characters are the brothers André and Philippe, both played by Lepage. Phillippe is “professional student” still living with his ailing mother (Anne-Marie Cadieux) in a small, run-down apartment. He`s spent most of his adult life toiling away on his doctoral thesis, which looks at the philosophical and emotional consequences of the race into space between the United States and the Soviet Union during the 1960s and ’70s. To support himself he works as a telemarketer and his daily cold-calls is answered by a former girlfriend who isn’t particularly happy to hear from him. Then there`s his failed attempt to discuss his research with a former Russian cosmonaut. Then there`s his younger brother André, a successful television weather announcer who has money, a small degree of fame, a handsome boyfriend, and almost no respect for Phillippe. As his mother`s health goes from bad to worse, Phillippe’s luck seems to change. Invited to Russia to discuss his recently published thesis on the space program, André isn’t willing to take carte of their mother while Phillippe will be away. La face cachée de la lune was Canada’s official nomination for the foreign-language Oscar.

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