As the only Renaissance city in North America, Québec takes its origin in the foundation of the French colony in 1608, and it embodies the long-standing presence of the French language on the continent.
A singular characteristic of the city is the omnipresence of the Catholic Church as refracted in symbols such as churches, buildings, monuments, and statues. No wonder Alfred Hitchcock would choose this city as the setting for I Confess, his psychological thriller telling the story of a Catholic priest, Father Logan (Montgomery Clift), who is wrongfully accused of the murder of one of his parishioners. The churchman’s faith is put to the test when he has to keep secret the real killer’s confession while being accused of the crime.
An underrated production that rarely figures among Hitchcock’s masterpieces such as Rear Window, Psycho, or Vertigo, I Confess was shot in black and white and released in 1953. A memorable aspect of the film is its cinematography, whose film noir aesthetics makes great use of domineering shadows, innovative angles, and architectural landmarks such as the Château Frontenac.
The series pays homage to Hitchcock’s visual strategies by adding colour to the picture, so to speak, more than 60 years after the film was shot. Québec’s own Robert Lepage pays tribute to Hitchcock’s film in Le Confessional (1995), and “After Hithcock’s I Confess: Stills from an Imaginary Remake” offers a different take on the classic by having recourse to the still image and night photography to showcase the city’s stunning colours at night and reveal undocumented features of its rich history and architecture.
After Hitchcock's "I Confess": Stills from an Imaginary Remake (Québec, QC)
As the only Renaissance city in North America, Québec takes its origin in the foundation of the French colony in 1608, and it embodies the long-standing presence of the French language on the continent.
A singular characteristic of the city is the omnipresence of the Catholic Church as refracted in symbols such as churches, buildings, monuments, and statues. No wonder Alfred Hitchcock would choose this city as the setting for I Confess, his psychological thriller telling the story of a Catholic priest, Father Logan (Montgomery Clift), who is wrongfully accused of the murder of one of his parishioners. The churchman’s faith is put to the test when he has to keep secret the real killer’s confession while being accused of the crime.
An underrated production that rarely figures among Hitchcock’s masterpieces such as Rear Window, Psycho, or Vertigo, I Confess was shot in black and white and released in 1953. A memorable aspect of the film is its cinematography, whose film noir aesthetics makes great use of domineering shadows, innovative angles, and architectural landmarks such as the Château Frontenac.
The series pays homage to Hitchcock’s visual strategies by adding colour to the picture, so to speak, more than 60 years after the film was shot. Québec’s own Robert Lepage pays tribute to Hitchcock’s film in Le Confessional (1995), and “After Hithcock’s I Confess: Stills from an Imaginary Remake” offers a different take on the classic by having recourse to the still image and night photography to showcase the city’s stunning colours at night and reveal undocumented features of its rich history and architecture.