Calendar (1993 film)

For the 2009 Malayalam romance film, see Calendar (2009 film).

Calendar
Directed by	Atom Egoyan
Produced by	Atom Egoyan Arsinée Khanjian Robert Lantos
Written by	Atom Egoyan
Starring	Arsinée Khanjian Ashot Adamyan Atom Egoyan
Music by	Eve Egoyan Djivan Gasparyan Hovhanness Tarpinian John Grimaldi
Cinematography	Atom Egoyan Norayr Kasper
Edited by	Atom Egoyan
Distributed by	Zeitgeist Films
Release dates	June 3, 1993 (1993-06-03)
Running time	74 minutes
Country	Canada Germany Armenia
Language	English Armenian

Calendar (Armenian: Օրացույց) is a 1993 drama film directed by Atom Egoyan.

Plot

A photographer is sent to Armenia to take pictures of churches for a calendar. He slowly begins to realise that his wife, an Armenian translator, is falling in love with their driver and unofficial guide, Ashot. They grow more and more distant from each other and finally separate. Later, at his home in Toronto, he uses an escort agency to invite a number of women to dinner, finally settling on the one who looks and sounds most like his wife.

Style

The film is narrated by the photographer. Interactions between the photographer, his wife, and their driver were largely improvised.

Locations

The story is told almost entirely from only three locations: In Armenia, at the photographer's dining room in Toronto, and by the photographer's answering machine.

Armenia

Every scene in Armenia is viewed from behind a camera as the photographer prepares to take pictures of the churches (including a moment where the photographer and his wife mistake the pagan temple of Garni for a church); his wife and driver speak to him while looking directly at the camera. The scenes were shot with a video camera.

Dining room

The scenes in the dining room feature the photographer having dinner with women from the escort agency. Each date follows almost exactly the same pattern: The photographer and his date converse briefly, the photographer pours the wine, and the date excuses herself to use the telephone in the next room while the photographer listens. It is revealed on the last date that this pattern was set up prior to each date, and that this is his way of finding a woman who sounds like his wife, although his motives for doing so are left ambiguous.

Answering machine

The photographer's answering machine sits beside the Armenian calendar, which marks the passage of time throughout the movie. We learn of the state of his marriage through the messages left by his estranged wife.

Critical reception

Despite its limited release, Calendar received mostly positive reactions. It has a 100 percent rating at Rotten Tomatoes and was nominated for Best Achievement in Direction and Best Screenplay at the 1993 Genie Awards. Stephen Holden of the New York Times said of the movie,

If Calendar, like such earlier Egoyan films as The Adjuster and Speaking Parts, has to be pieced together backward, it is so finely constructed and beautifully acted a movie that its game of detective is quite enticing. Seamlessly edited, the film sustains a visual rhythm that is as confident as it is edgy.

However, not all reviews were positive. Rita Kempley of the Washington Post said, "[Egoyan's] approach remains far too cerebral to evoke more than intellectual interest".

External links

• Calendar at IMDb
• Calendar at AllMovie
• Calendar at Rotten Tomatoes