Edge of Madness

Directed by Anne Wheeler

Canada, 2002 (fiction, 99 minutes, colour, English)

Also known as "A Wilderness Station", "Hulluuden raja", "Station sauvage"

Film Description:
"Emerging from the elemental forces of a fierce 1853 winter, alone in the wilderness, 18-year-old Annie McKillop arrives in the town of Walley, Ontario, barely alive, starved and half mad from her near-disastrous struggle for survival. Upon being confronted by James Mullen, the clerk of the peace, she confesses to a murder, eventually acknowledging that the victim was her young husband, Simon Heron. While locked up in the local jail and under the investigation of Mullen, Annie gradually unravels her story as she remembers it, trying to determine her own role in what happened. Edge of Madness, which is based on the short story 'A Wilderness Station' by acclaimed Canadian writer Alice Munro, is a taut period mystery, literate and character-driven, authentic to its time period but told in a contemporary cinematic fashion."
-- Telefilm Canada (source)

Film Credits (partial):
Written by:	Charles K. Pitts, Anne Wheeler
Based on:	"A Wilderness Station," a short story by Alice Munro
Produced by:	Marie-Claude Beauchamp, Bill Gray, Derek Mazur, Jacques Pettigrew, Charles K. Pitts
Principal Cast:	Caroline Dhavernas, Brendan Fehr, Paul Johansson, Corey Sevier, Jonas Chernick, Frank Adamson, Nicole Bremault, Tantoo Cardinal, Hilary Carroll, Terri Cherniak, Francis Damberger, Ruth De Graves, Currie Graham, Wayne Nicklas, Jennifer Pelser, Anne Ross, Peter Wingfield
Cinematography:	David Frazee
Film Editing:	Bob Lower
Music:	Randolph Peters
Production Company:	CinéGroupe, Credo Entertainment Group, Gregorian Films, Lions Gate Films

(sources)

Notes about Edge of Madness

Filmed in Minnedosa, Manitoba and Winnipeg, Manitoba.

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Quote about Edge of Madness

"There is no respite from exploitation and male violence for Annie except in the figure of Ruth (Tantoo Cardinal), a caring Aboriginal woman who serves as the prison den mother. [...] Despite their victimization by a harsh settler society, neither Ruth nor Annie is represented as a passive victim. Interestingly, the Ruth character does not appear in the original [Alice] Munro story, and she is reminiscent of earlier Wheeler representations of Aboriginal women, such as Augusta [in Augusta] and Rosanne and her mother, Beatrice, in Loyalties."
-- Kathleen Cummins (source)

Bibliography for Edge of Madness

Articles from Newspapers, Magazines, or News Websites

Clarkson, Dinah. "Wilderness filmmaker loved the late cold: Director Wheeler found locations to her liking." Winnipeg Free Press, May 5, 2001.

Web Sites about Edge of Madness

"IMDb: Edge of Madness." Internet Movie Database, Inc. http://imdb.com/title/tt0287140/combined.