Summary

Filmmaker and journalist Francine Pelletier looks at Canadian author Mordecai Richler in the context of the Jewish authors and comedians of his era—Phillip Roth, Saul Bellow, Mel Brooks, Lenny Bruce and others. She explores various influences on Richler’s life and work: his childhood on St. Urbain Street, a religiously observant family upbringing and the Russian Jewish writer Isaac Babel. It also addresses his public stance against Canadian and Quebec nationalism. This film is a treasure trove of archival footage, and features interviews with writers such as Adam Gopnik, Margaret Atwood and David Bezmozgis.