in both Quebec and Canadian cinema. Don Haig of the National Film Board of Canada said it was considered "one of the great Quebecois films of all time." The Toronto International Film Festival ranked it in the Top 10 Canadian Films of All Time three times, in 1984, 1993 and 2004. In 1998, Take One named it as one of the 20 best Canadian films, writing "the kid is a dangerously compelling seductress who wreaks havoc out of a need to control those she loves." It was selected for preservation in 2006 by the Audio-Visual Preservation Trust of Canada, a charitable non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the preservation of Canada’s audio-visual heritage. In 2015, La Presse columnist Marc Cassivi named it one of Quebec's best films, saying Mankiewicz's intimate direction and Ducharme's poetic writing blended particularly well, citing Manon's speech about a flower growing out of her and her mother's blood. The film received less favourable reviews in the United States. The New York Times called the film "a meandering movie with a curious kind of staying power." The Chicago Reader wrote "Mankiewicz possesses a dark, provocative sensibility, yet he isn't sufficiently in control of his medium to produce a coherent work out of his conflicting moods." Conversely, David Denby of New York wrote the Manon character was "a little monster" but heart-breaking, and that Jean Cocteau would have admired the film. William Mootz of The Courier-Journal in Louisville, Kentucky wrote the film "has obviously been much admired in Canada, and with good reasons. It is a beautifully acted movie, filmed with an almost painful sincerity under the direction of Francis Mankiewicz." Accolades The film won the Genie Award for Best Canadian Film, along with seven other Genies, including for best original screenplay. It was selected as the Canadian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 53rd Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee. See also List of submissions to the 53rd Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film List of Canadian submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film References Bibliography External links Canadian Film Encyclopedia, a publication of The Film Reference Library/a division of the Toronto International Film Festival Group. 1980 films 1980s French-language films 1980 drama films Quebec films Canadian coming-of-age drama films Best Picture Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners Films directed by Francis Mankiewicz Films set in Quebec French-language