It stars Richard Gere, Uma Thurman, Michael Imperioli, Jacob Elordi, Victoria Hill, and Kristine Froseth.

In the film, a dying filmmaker (played by Gere in the present and Elordi in flashbacks) sits for a final interview, during which he admits that his status as a progressive icon is built on a foundation of lies and half-truths, and that he has repeatedly used and discarded his family and friends.

According to legend, Leo fled America for Montreal to dodge the Vietnam War draft, and went on a Kerouac-style road trip to Castro's communist Cuba.

Although Alicia prefers to stay in Virginia, he feels stifled by his in-laws’ gentility and traditional values, and hopes a change of scenery will revitalize his writing.

To save her husband's reputation, Emma tries to stop the interview, explaining that Leo is mentally unstable due to his illness and use of prescription fentanyl.

Leo recalls more embarrassing moments from his past: he stole from a family friend who gave him a job after he dropped out of college; seduced both Diana and Emma while teaching them; cheated on his first wife while she was pregnant; and lied to the public about visiting Cuba.

Emma recalls that when an adult Cornel introduced himself to his father at a film festival, Leo harshly told him that he had no son to avoid embarrassment.

[8] He added that the story of a filmmaker demolishing the myth he had created about himself was partly inspired by his own life;[8] Variety noted that "Schrader delights in mythologizing his own wanton dereliction of self-care.

With Banks' approval,[10] he "ratcheted up the blackness" by "add[ing] a moment where [Leo] turns his back on his own son";[12] he likened the exchange to his own falling-out with his brother.

[7] He stressed that the production design did not rely on '60s tropes, like long hair and bell-bottoms, and that in reality, "a lot of people look[ed] pretty normal.

[9] A school in Long Island doubled as Leo's home in Montreal, and the Vermont scenes were shot in Dutchess County and Queens.

[7] Schrader wrote and shot a new epilogue for the story in which Emma and Cornel visit the ossuary housing Leo's ashes,[21] which he screened at Cannes but eventually cut.

The website's consensus reads: "Anchored by Richard Gere's egoless performance, Oh Canada is a thorny and sometimes muddled memory play that fits solidly into director Paul Schrader's self-reflective filmography.