We wondered what else could happen after the explosive finale of the second season of This is how I love you. Rest assured: in their bungalows in Sainte-Foy, Huguette, Gaétan, Serge and Micheline always have an infinite talent for getting into trouble. And to try to get out of it the wrong way, preferably by shooting into the crowd with a rifle.
The third and final season of this favorite series of Quebecers brings the couples Delisle and Paquette to 1976. The first of eight episodes, which journalists were able to view on Tuesday, opens again this season with the scene of the four bodies found dead in the above-ground swimming pool in Sainte-Foy. We will know at the end which characters suffered this sad fate (we all have our own ideas on this subject, but the finale may hold surprises). And how they got there.
THE New York Times described the series by François Létourneau and his friends as “sulphurous, insolent, intriguing and terribly amusing”. In addition to having written the screenplay and playing Gaétan Delisle (still a wimp), Létourneau co-directed this third season with Patrice Robitaille, true to himself in the role of Serge Paquette.
Co-producer Joanne Forgues finds that the Létourneau-Robitaille tandem is “a bit like the Coen brothers from Quebec” with this series that the New York daily compared to the legendary Fargo. André Béraud, director of dramas and feature films at Radio-Canada, talks about Tarantino.
The last season of This is how I love you remains in the register of dramatic comedy – or “comic drama” –, a bit like Black sequence And The invinciblesother memorable projects by Létourneau and his merry band.
Huguette’s ordeal
The Delisles and Paquettes are still battling organized crime villains, who manage to humiliate them after the bloodbath of the last season. Huguette Delisle has lost her sacred fire. She crashes before four sexist and homophobic thugs and their big boss, who try to force the criminal “organization” led by the two couples to lead an orderly life.
“In the first two episodes, Huguette lost everything. She will end up taking revenge, but not as we think,” said François Létourneau on the sidelines of the press viewing of the first two episodes of the third season on Tuesday.
“We are going to go very, very far” in Huguette Delisle’s thirst for revenge, explained co-producer Catherine Faucher. Huguette’s revenge will be a bit like that of all women, we understand – a year after the “Year of the Woman” celebrated in 1975.
At one point, the poor mother recalls that she is “the greatest criminal in the history of Quebec”. She still has a reputation to reestablish, after having killed 26 people – and maybe a few more – the previous season.
The directors and producers highlighted the remarkable performance of actress Marilyn Castonguay, who shows Huguette’s vulnerable side more than ever. Threatened with rape, humiliated by being told that she is only good at cleaning toilets, the mother boils inside.
She and her friends Micheline (Karine Gonthier-Hyndman) and Marie-Josée (Sophie Desmarais) are even entered into the Miss Sainte-Foy 1976 competition. The mayor, an authentic “pig uncle” played by Robert Lepage, has a wandering hand and rejects candidates who are too plump for his taste.
In a powerful scene, Huguette Delisle looks at herself in the mirror, her eyes dull and moist, her Miss Sainte-Foy crown on her head. Suddenly, the fire returns to his eyes. We can guess that things will get worse in the next six episodes.
New faces
One of Huguette’s most determined tormentors is played by Xavier Dolan. Violent and homophobic, this villain goes so far as to slap the heroine of the series. The filmmaker may have given up on making films, but it’s good to see him shine on screen.
Pier-Luc Funk plays another villain from the gang of “sexists” from Sainte-Foy, but he seems to have a big heart. We suspect that he will perhaps end up helping Huguette to wreak her vengeance.
The battle of the criminal gangs will be transported to Montreal, where the Delisles and the Paquettes will face the Lavoie brothers, tough guys inspired by the Dubois brothers – who made rain and shine in the underworld of the metropolis. The bungalow scenes were filmed in Boucherville and Beloeil, and not in Sainte-Foy.
François Létourneau and Patrice Robitaille left the 60-day shoot exhausted. They played two of the main roles in addition to co-directing the series. It was not uncommon to see them move to the set to act out a scene after a stint behind the camera.
The tandem had never produced a series. He worked hard, meticulously analyzing every scene from the previous two seasons, directed by Jean-François Rivard. “We have rarely seen such concrete preparation,” says co-producer Catherine Faucher. It shows on the screen.