Surfacing is a 1981 Canadian drama film directed by Claude Jutra and starring Kathleen Beller, R. H. Thomson, Joseph Bottoms, Michael Ironside and Margaret Dragu.
[1] The film was written by Bernard Gordon as an adaptation of Margaret Atwood's novel Surfacing (1972).
The film received mixed reviews, with criticism of Bottoms' performance, and praise for Dragu’s.
[1] He had been brought in as director only at the last minute, after original director Eric Till dropped out;[5] it was also the first narrative feature film ever produced by Beryl Fox, who was primarily known as a documentary filmmaker.
[5] In addition, the film was criticized for casting Beller and Bottoms, actors from the United States, in a film adaptation of a novel with themes of Canadian nationalism, as well as for giving Bottoms top billing even though Beller's character was the novel's primary protagonist.