1981 (film)

1981
French release poster
Directed by	Ricardo Trogi
Written by	Ricardo Trogi
Produced by	Nicole Robert
Starring	Jean-Carl Boucher
Narrated by	Ricardo Trogi
Cinematography	Steve Asselin
Edited by	Yvann Thibaudeau
Music by	Frédéric Bégin
Production company	Go Films
Distributed by	Alliance VivaFilm
Release date	September 4, 2009 (2009-09-04)
Running time	102 minutes
Country	Canada
Language	French
Budget	CA$4.625 million (US$4.5 million)

1981, longer title 1981: L'année où je suis devenu un menteur (1981: The Year I Became a Liar), is a 2009 Canadian-French language comedy-drama film from Quebec written and directed by Ricardo Trogi. It was released on September 4, 2009. The film is autobiographical about the youth years of the director as told by him during the film.^[1]

The film was the first in what is, as of 2024, a tetralogy of semi-autobigraphical films about Trogi's life, followed by 1987, 1991 and 1995.^[2]

In 1981, 11 year-old Ricardo (Jean-Carl Boucher) and his family arrive in their new home. Having no friends, Ricardo spends his time in a magazine and ask his parents for money. During school, his teacher notices his bad calligraphy and assigns him to Anne Tremblay (Elizabeth Adam) to improve his writing; he falls immediately in love with the classmate. The family faces trouble when the father loses his job and the sister's cat, Caramel, goes missing.

At school, Ricardo tries to gain a reputation after discovering a walkman in order to gain Anne's love. He then befriends the "Red K-Ways" after he lies to promising to give Playboy magazines. During an important school event, Ricardo gives a poor presentation about an important item; Anne presents a marble her deceased cousin gave to her. To get closer to her, Ricardo steals her gift.

After his many lies get suspected by the K-Ways, Ricardo tries to buy a walkman to gain a honest reputation; he encounters his father doing music in a local restaurant. An argument comes with his mother about money and his mother tells him to find a job to pay the things he wants. He then delivers newspapers. Later at home, his father tells Ricardo they have to sell the house.

In the woods, a member of the K-Ways has a meltdown when his father goes to jail; they then revealed they all lied about different topics and they reconcile. Before leaving, Ricardo then decides to go to Anne's home and tells the truth and learns that Anne never had a deceased cousin and the marble was only decorative. Back at home, the family finds Caramel with babies as they depart.

• 1981 at IMDb