Quote:
"Granted that [in Madeleine Is] the metaphor of the clown is somewhat awkward and that there are weaknesses in terms of acting, narrative structure and musical score; these flaws do not explain the film's exclusion from the canon. Dansereau's La vie rêvée is far from being a perfect film, and yet it has received a fair amount of attention in books from Take Two to Gendering the Nation. In fact, Spring's film has a few very powerful moments—such as when Toro tries to force David and Madeleine to have sex, threatening them with a hammer—and some strikingly expressionistic shots of downtown Vancouver. But regardless of its uneven technical and artistic quality, I would argue that the indifference from which the film has suffered results mainly from two factors: its politics and its style."
-- André Loiselle

Source:
Loiselle, André. "Madeleine is... worth a second look." Take One (Toronto), July-August 2002. (p. 35)