Victoire (French: La Cordonnière) is a Canadian drama film, directed by François Bouvier and released in 2023.
[1] Adapted from Pauline Gill's series of historical novels about the life of Victoire Du Sault, a 19th-century shoemaker in Montreal who was one of Quebec's first women ever to launch her own business, the film stars Rose-Marie Perreault as Du Sault, and centres on her early romantic relationship with older businessman Georges-Noël Dufresne (Pierre-Yves Cardinal) before being married off to his son Thomas (Nicolas Fontaine).
[2] The cast also includes Élise Guilbault in a small role as Victoire in her older age, as well as Madeleine Péloquin, Jeff Boudreault, Anick Lemay, Henri Picard, Nicolas Fontaine, Frédéric Millaire-Zouvi, Antoine Pilon, Martin Larocque, Louis-Georges Girard, Samuel Bouchard, Janie Faucher-Roy, Gabriel Sabourin, Éric Cabana and Marcel Sabourin in supporting roles.
[3] Maxime Demers of Le Journal de Montréal rated the film 3 out of 5, praising it as technically well-made but criticizing the fact that it focused far too strongly on Du Sault's romantic life rather than her actual accomplishments as a pioneering businesswoman.
[2] Marc-André Lussier of La Presse offered a similar assessment, noting that because the real-life Victoire Du Sault is relatively little-known to contemporary audiences, the film was essentially missing a chapter in her life by focusing on her family dramas rather than her career.