When a criminal lawyer (Éric Bruneau), a businesswoman (Caroline Dhavernas), a former professor of literature (Luc Picard), a former police officer retrained in security (Samian), a depressive marketing expert (Anie Pascale ), a merchant of intreligious (Rémi-Pierre Paquin) board the helicopter of a pilot not very helpful (Marc Beaupré), they are unaware that they will soon land urgently in the middle of nowhere. Fortunately, a luxurious chalet with cupboards full of food is located a few meters from the aircraft.
Like the characters, the viewer will ask themselves countless questions. Did they really meet with a wealthy businessman (Germain Houde)? Did the pilot cause the accident? What dark secrets are these six strangers hiding? And the shopkeeper’s mistress (Nathalie Doummar), an engineer who was not to be on the trip, is she an innocent victim of circumstances?
After two episodes ofOne way ticket by Annie Piérard, Bernard Dansereau and Étienne Piérard-Dansereau, to whom we owe the excellent series The impostor (2016-2017), two characters will have lost their lives. Any resemblance to They were ten, a novel by Agatha Christie many times adapted for film and television, is no accident.
“But there will not be a death in each episode”, underlines the author during a virtual press briefing held Monday morning. Another thing that is certain is that the investigator Juliette Michaud (Anick Lemay) will have many threads to unravel in order to know the truth at the end of the sixth and last episode.
Besides, the order of disappearance – or of punishment? – characters, who risk seeing their reprehensible actions displayed on social networks, does it have to do with the gravity of their crimes? “We didn’t really think about that,” replies Bernard Dansereau. In fact, not in that sense. The story will eventually change and develop in a different way. “
Dear Agatha
After Epidemic (2020), the authors wanted to explore new avenues. Then came the end of filming due to the pandemic. They then came up with the idea of a closed door with few characters – who could have stood two meters away from each other without harming the story.
“From this constraint, we said to ourselves that it would be cool to make a whodunit [« qui l’a fait »] because there is a kind of interactivity in a whodunit, it’s like a game. This aspect seemed very interesting to us insofar as we were doing an exercise in which we tried to dust off the genre a little, ”explains Bernard Dansereau.
By updating this classic form of thriller that Agatha Christie cherished, the Piérard-Dansereau wanted to address various current topics, including the limits of the justice system.
“It forced us to focus on the characters, on what they have to say. It was a bit the opposite ofEpidemic, where we showed how an entire society was evolving. There, we only talk about social problems based on characters, ”explains Étienne Piérard-Dansereau.
“Quickly, while writing, we added more: the helicopter crash, the police investigation, the entourage of certain characters in camera, the flashbacks. In the end, it was no longer easy to shoot, ”recalls Annie Piérard.
However, the trio could count on their accomplice of The impostor and D’Epidemic, Yan Lanouette Turgeon, who, despite the challenges posed by the Covidian era, was delighted to shoot in the fall: “If it was just me, I would only shoot in the fall. The stars were aligned to rotate during this period. Knowing that we were going to shoot there [Wentworth-Nord, à une vingtaine de kilomètres de Lachute], we knew that we were going to be able to benefit from a wealth of executives, of light. Autumn was very suitable for our purposes. It also “fit” in the color palette we were in the process of establishing. “
Yes One way ticket is miles from previous series, both in its invoice and structure and in its writing, we find a theme explored in The impostor, that of identity, even of duality.
“We did not want to offer empty calories, summarizes Annie Piérard. It is of course a fun formula, but there is a reflection on the human being. Over the course of the episodes, this reflection will become clearer, but indeed, there is a desire to talk about man and man. “