Céline Bonnier is the star of the psychological thriller “A Criminal Affair”, in which she plays a mother who has never given up trying to clear her son, who has been languishing in prison for 15 years for a murder he did not commit.
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Catherine Godin (Bonnier) protected her son Alex (Maxime-Olivier Potvin) after the death of his father, a Jamaican by origin, and when he was the victim of racism. When everything was going well for him, Alex is wrongly accused of having killed the drunk driver who is responsible for the death of his cousin and that of other young people in an accident in Saint-Bruno.
Sentenced to 25 years in prison, Alex has another 10 years to serve, but he just can’t take it anymore. If he agrees to admit the crime, he will be able to go out, but his mother refuses that he becomes a murderer for the rest of his life simply to recover his freedom more quickly.
Catherine never gave up her fight, as can be seen from the walls of a room in her house, which are lined with newspaper clippings, and the floor which is strewn with boxes of notes. We feel it fragile and at the end of its resources. She lost her job as a nurse and poses brilliant gestures, like when she hangs a banner on an overpass to invite someone to finally speak. As viewers, we want to help him, we quickly engage in his quest.
The police are again interested in her and we see the Bureau of Independent Investigations (BEI) looking into this case with investigators Mérineau (Marie Turgeon) and Diaz Vallée (Victor Andres Trelles Turgeon).
Céline Bonnier is solid in this role where she plays the full range of emotions. His Catherine is exasperated, out of breath, even aggressive at times. But she is above all determined to clear her son. For this role, the actress finds the author Joanne Arseneau, who had offered her another very strong score in “Tag”, 22 years ago.
“It’s been a long time since I touched a character like that, who has so much willpower, who is so combative and has a bit of a rock side. Catherine has to deal with a lot of obstacles, she has a lot of energy, “drive”, she is charged with maternal energy and she has a rare determination, “said the actress on Monday, on the sidelines of the viewing of two episodes presented to journalists.
“She also has a I don’t care what other people think of her which is quite interesting, that charmed me”, added the actress of “Unit 9” and “The blue hour”, which we will see this year in Marianne Farley’s first feature film, “North of Albany”, and which is due to begin filming a new series this spring, which she cannot talk about for the moment.
Something fishy
Catherine does not know that her former lover Benoît “Bing” Inglis (Louis-Philippe Dandenault), an organized crime inspector with the Sûreté du Québec (SQ), has hidden crucial information that could have cleared her son in 2005.
In addition to the details that Benoit concealed, the local police investigation, led at the time by Commander Dorais (Raymond Bouchard), seems to have been botched or even directed.
“At some point, with all the leads there are, we no longer know which saint to turn to,” said Céline Bonnier. There are plenty of characters who are touched on at the start and who reveal very important things later, who direct us to one doubt or another, one obstacle or another, it’s very well constructed.
Produced by Les productions Sovimage, the series “A criminal affair” has eight episodes directed by Stéphane Lapointe (“Miscellaneous facts”, “Before the crash”). The first four episodes will be available from March 23 on Crave, with the remaining four following a week later.