Correctional officer Louise Denoncourt runs a wing specially designed for a project to rehabilitate murderers at the end of their sentences. When a new inmate, suspected of having killed his mother, joins the program, he will give him a hard time. How far will she go to defend her ideals of social reintegration?
Second feature film by François Péloquin, after the excellent The sound of the trees, The melting of the ice is a social drama with a detective thriller. The film begins with force, plunging us into a closed prison environment with an anxiety-provoking climate, Unit 9.
We follow the efforts of Louise Denoncourt (Christine Beaulieu) to succeed in her pilot project for the rehabilitation of murderers. Its program, which offers activities inside and outside the walls, does not make all the staff of the detention center happy…
With firmness and humanity, Louise persists and signs in her approach based on respect and solidarity between these prisoners at the end of their sentence. When Marc (Lothaire Bluteau) suddenly arrives in his wing, the story turns into a psychological battle between Louise and him. Because Marc is an antisocial hitman. The actor breathes both a dull rage and a vulnerability into his solitary character.
The production is fluid and sensitive. The story, co-written by François Péloquin and Sarah Lévesque, paints a nuanced portrait of these wounded, broken men. These are defended by a fine line-up of performers; besides Lothaire Bluteau, we find Étienne Lou, Pierre-Paul Alain, Jean-Luc Kanapé. Christine Beaulieu is still as convincing as the correctional officer.
Unfortunately, the storyline gets scattered along the way. The character of Louise’s father, a retired police investigator played by Marc Béland, is dropped. The plot stalls before transporting us without warning into an improbable thriller. After a surprising shadowing, Louise, metamorphosed into an unbelievable Nikita, appears in a candid and disappointing ending for a social drama which nevertheless raises serious questions.
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Prison drama
Melting ice
François Péloquin
With Christine Beaulieu, Lothaire Bluteau and Marc Béland
1:46 a.m.