Do you ever get sad? Because you smile all the time. » In the first episode of the web series geolocate love, adapted from his novel by poems of the same name, Simon Boulerice answers this question, asked by a child during a class visit. It’s true that on television, on the set of This year or of Good evening !we know the author and columnist jovial, perky, smiling, a tad eccentric.
However, it is enough to read Simon Boulerice to know that behind the laughing eyes and the passionate flights hides a complex, sensitive, even tortured man, sometimes. “I’m pretty good at happiness,” says the series’ Simon. But I assure you, it happens to me to be sad. »
In ten ten-minute episodes, geolocate love questions the distance, the expectations and the false perceptions — of others, but above all of oneself — that are created when one looks at the world through the prism of one’s screen. We meet Simon, a thirty-year-old who goes through dating apps in the hope of finding a soul mate.
On a journey to the four corners of Montreal, he gets torn apart, chaining chance encounters and sexual conquests, often in defiance of his self-esteem and dignity. His adventures, sometimes funny and touching, sometimes dramatic or full of violence, reveal all the fragility and interiority of a man frightened by his loneliness – and of a generation whose self-esteem and identity are often built on from virtual relationships.
I took a step back, and I have a lot of tenderness for the Simon of the past, thirsty for love, who hoped so much to feel fulfilled by the other. It’s a bit dehumanizing, this all-you-can-eat buffet, which prevents proximity and gives the illusion that everything is always better elsewhere. It’s easy to slip and sink into sadness and rejection.
Simon Boulerice assures that he is not trying to demonize dating apps with this autofiction – he himself found love through them. “I took a step back, and I have a lot of tenderness for the Simon of the past, thirsty for love, who hoped so much to feel fulfilled by the other. It’s a bit dehumanizing, this all-you-can-eat buffet, which prevents proximity and gives the illusion that everything is always better elsewhere. It’s easy to slip and sink into sadness and rejection. But there are also many beautiful things that can be born out of it. »
dance and freedom
The series is a reflection of the eclecticism of encounters that the Tinder and Grindr of this world can give rise to. A protean, atypical object, where humor rubs shoulders with drama, and dance and poetry share the stage with relevant and current reflections on loneliness and the quest for self.
Simon Boulerice is visibly pleased with this adaptation, having fun pushing back possibilities and expectations, never missing an opportunity to improvise a dance step of which only he has the secret, to put on a mankinis in neon green lycra, to put themselves in danger, to embrace the ridiculous and the grotesque. “When I write, I like to embrace my vulnerability. I wanted these imperfections to appear on screen. The writer thereby exploits all the dimensions of autofiction, and does not hesitate to delve into his personal and media archives to further blur the contours of reality. We are far, here, from the universe of six degreesthe youth drama series scripted by the artist.
This time, Simon Boulerice takes advantage of the great freedom offered by the Web format to dive into homosexual culture. In addition to giving pride of place to the multiplicity of sexual practices, he does not hesitate to show men in their simplest form – still a rare occurrence on Quebec television.
“I wanted the show to be as representative of the queer community as possible, and to have diversity in all its forms. I know it feels good to recognize yourself on TV. I also wanted to show that it is not because a sexuality is disposable that it is condemnable, as long as it is practiced in a space of consent. »
Non-binary character and actor, man wearing makeup, unbridled sexuality… Simon Boulerice embodies the television we want for the present: inclusive, rich in its diversity and its absence of codes and taboos, and which refuses to wallow in ease and intellectual poverty.
He is thus betting on making poetry accessible to as many people as possible, regularly incorporating verses from the original novel in voice-over. “Your gestures are well-honed / Roll up the ledge and have a chance to win a trip, a family van or an ITS / You ask for a duel and I get asylum / We complement each other well, wanting the opposite of our good / You win, you run into me / I’m never good at convincing / But where’s the love in all this? “, he declaims after a particularly difficult scene to watch, where his character is the victim of a sexual assault.
“These passages allow me to deploy something different, through the scenes of jovial vulgarity that the series contains. It’s a way for the character to speak out, to give access to his subconscious. Poetry does not belong only to connoisseurs. I think everyone can be touched by the great beat of a poetic momentum. »