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Cast

Antoine Bertrand

Gil Bellows

Guillaume Cyr

Critic Reviews for Louis Cyr

Audience Reviews for Louis Cyr

• Jan 18, 2014

  This amazing biopic drama which goes for 130 minutes, directed by Daniel Roby and written by Sylvain Guy will never seem too long! With cast full with (French speaking) stars including Antoine Bertrand, Guillaume Cyr, Rose-Maïté Erkoreka, Gilbert Sicotte, Marilyn Castonguay, Gil Bellows... you will have a chance to enjoy the story of the strongest man ever lived! The movie is exploring the story from Lowell, Massachussets, in the late 19th century when Louis Cyr, a French-Canadian labourer working in a textile factory, is convinced by an Irish promoter to leave his family in order to demonstrate his immense physical strength at fairs across the country. His girlfriend, Mélina Comtois, also comes along on the trip that lasts six months and ends when the promoter takes off with all the money. Of course, this guy is not a quitter, and he rolls up his sleeves, continues to travel as a strong man with Mélina, whom he has married, and ends up in Montreal, where he meets Horace Barré, a strong man who becomes his most faithful ally, and Gustave Lambert, an agent who helps to revive his career on the Montreal scene. Louis becomes an overnight sensation. Encouraged by his success, Louis only has one goal: to win the title of the strongest man in the world. [img]http://www.tribute.ca/tribute_objects/images/movies/Louis_Cyr/poster_md2.jpg[/img] Real story is not too far from the film portrayal! From the age of twelve Cyr worked in a lumber camp during the winters and on the family's farm the rest of the year. Discovering his exceptional strength at a very young age, he impressed his fellow workers with his feats of strength. He had learned of the story of how a legendary strongman (Milo of Croton) had carried a calf from birth to a full grown bull and attempted to do the same, one day the calf bolted, kicking him in his back so he then began carrying a sack of grain 1?4 mile (0.40 km) everyday adding 2 pounds (0.91 kg) each day. According to one of his biographers, his mother decided "he should let his hair grow, like Samson in the Bible." She curled it regularly. In 1878 the Cyr family immigrated to Lowell, Massachusetts in the United States. It was in Lowell that Cyr changed his name from Cyprien-Noé to Louis, as it was easier to pronounce in English. Again his great strength brought him fame. At seventeen he weighed 230 pounds (104 kg). He entered his first strongman contest in Boston at age eighteen, lifting a horse off the ground, the fully grown male horse was placed on a platform with 2 iron bars attached enabling Cyr to obtain a better grip. The horse weighed at least 3?4 short ton (0.68 t). This is how the real Louis Cyr looked like - [img] http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/Cyrlouis.gif[/img] I really enjoyed every minute of this movie and the way it was presented, directed and acted by the very capable crew. I am glad that I had a chance to know a little-known Quebec figure, a man of pure strength - strength that was embodied in a solid citizen, loving father, and self-made businessman.
  Panta O Super Reviewer

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