La sarrasine

A father's love is not enough to keep his dreams and his family together in this drama. Joe Aiello (Tony Nardi) is an Italian immigrant who settled in Montreal and opened a construction firm in the early '60s. Thirty years later, Tony's business is a solid success, and Tony dreams of passing this legacy along to his family. But Tony's wife has passed on, his son Nuccio (Hugolin Chevrette Landesque) is developmentally disabled, and his daughter Bennie (Michele-Barbara Pelletier) can't decide what she wants to do with her life, dropping out of college against her father's wishes shortly before she is to graduate. Despite his disappointment with Nuccio and his exasperation with Bennie, Joe has a fierce love for his children, but Bennie feels that her father's affection is starting to crush her more than it nurtures her.

An illustration of the teasing of the Montreal's Italians between their love of what was their home country and their need, like many immigrants and sons of immigrants, to be accepted and integrated in their new society. From the history of the Italian immigration seen through the play 'La Storia dell'Immigrante' from 'Toni Nardi' and Vincenzo Ierfino to the screening in the Caffe Italia of a World Cup soccer game involving the Italian Team.

Les Grands Enfants does not tell a story in the traditional sense. Instead, it offers an honest image of people's dreams of change : people often unemployed, dissatisfied in some way with their work, or caught up in complicated social relationships. The film is set in Montreal.