Directed by Francis Mankiewicz and written by Réjean Ducharme, the film concerns Manon (Charlotte Laurier), an unstable young girl who lives with her mother Michelle (Marie Tifo) and her alcoholic and intellectually disabled uncle Ti-Guy (Germain Houde).

Manon prefers Gaetan, Michelle's former lover who gives her marijuana, and also steals the book Wuthering Heights from their neighbour and starts reading it.

However, author Peter Morris replies English Canadian films were exploring similar themes at the time and that Les bons débarras was made before the referendum.

[4] Author Janis L. Pallister argues the film fits in Québécois cinema as introspective, and that it is about desire and envy and is in part psychological horror and political symbolism.

[5] Professor Claire Portelance, writing for Le Devoir, suggested the impoverished state of the family indicated the film's message was that the Quiet Revolution did not improve the lives of Quebeckers, and that many things still looked like the past.

[15] Les bons débarras was seen by more people than any French Canadian film since Mon oncle Antoine (1971), but it was later eclipsed by Denys Arcand's The Decline of the American Empire (1986) and Jesus of Montreal (1989).

[17][18] The Elephant restoration subsequently screened in the classics section of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the Czech Republic in July 2015.

[23] In 1998, Take One named it as one of the 20 best Canadian films, writing "the kid is a dangerously compelling seductress who wreaks havoc out of a need to control those she loves.

[25] In 2015, La Presse columnist Marc Cassivi named it one of Quebec's best films, saying Mankiewicz's intimate direction and Ducharme's poetic writing blended particularly well, citing Manon's speech about a flower growing out of her and her mother's blood.

"[27] The Chicago Reader wrote "Mankiewicz possesses a dark, provocative sensibility, yet he isn't sufficiently in control of his medium to produce a coherent work out of his conflicting moods.

"[28] Conversely, David Denby of New York wrote the Manon character was "a little monster" but heart-breaking, and that Jean Cocteau would have admired the film.