Jean Beaudry and Fran?ois Bouvier have created a deeply affecting study of a man taking stock of his life in Jacques et Novembre, avoiding the maudlin and even going for quiet humor in telling of a dying young man's last days. Jacques Landry (portrayed by Beaudry) is dying of cancer at the age of 31. A cinephile at heart, he decides to begin a video diary, turning the camera on himself to tell his tale and capturing what images he can from his chair or bed. With the addition of 16mm footage shot by his friend Denis, Jacques intends to create a testament of a life, but the result is also the diary of a generation, full of somehow familiar images and impressions, although they are Jacques' own. (Jacques' favorite film is Alain Tanner's Jonah Who Will be 25 in the Year 2000, which is a clue to the mood and concerns of Jacques et novembre.) Video camera in hand, Jacques settles accounts with lovers, friends and family, and, in a whimsical scene, literally takes stock of his own achievements, counting the number of days/years spent sleeping, watching TV, making love.... Video and film, black-and-white and color are skillfully intertwined in the diary, which becomes the film itself. A scene in which Jacques prepares to sell off his personal effects to finance the film painfully sums up the plight of the man, and also of a generation who had hoped to effect real change, and instead have seen their dreams collapse around them. This modest but veracious first film was a surprise hit of the Berlin and Tokyo Film Festivals in 1985.