Level 3 autistic, intellectually handicapped, polyhandicapped, high-level epileptic and non-verbal, Antoine Parent-Bédard entered the life of Cathleen Rouleau when the latter became the girlfriend of her father, the producer and founding president of the agency ComediHa!, Sylvain Parent-Bédard. Nine years later, the 15-year-old plays himself in the touching and tender family comedy About Anthonyalongside his mother-in-law, who signs the screenplay.
“From the moment I started writing the series, I said to myself that no one other than Antoine could play Antoine, confides Cathleen Rouleau, met during a press briefing following the presentation of the first four episodes. This child has a universe in his eyes, he speaks through his eyes. He exudes something so different, a lot of love and sweetness. We could have played Paul Moreau, his understudy, who was phenomenal, who knocked us down and made us cry when he played epileptic seizures. Paul could have made something believable, but he couldn’t have made Antoine. And it was Antoine that I wanted to see on screen. It’s his story, and it’s important that he can tell it. »
“Antoine had fun; for him, it was a holiday camp. He had a lot fewer epileptic seizures during filming as his brain was stimulated, continues the father of the young actor. Whenever Podz needed him, he was there. We experienced a lot of bereavement with Antoine, but also a lot of small victories. This series is a big win. »
If Podz, for whom “fiction is a machine of empathy”, affirms that he was happy to find Claude Legault and Fanny Mallette – who play Antoine’s parents – in a world much brighter than that of Seven days of retaliation and of 19-2however, he had to have his ears pulled before embarking on the project, which he believed was too light for him.
“Sylvain wrote me a 20-page email asking me to reconsider the offer, reread the text and meet with them. Sylvain and Cathleen then talked to me about what they go through on a daily basis, and that’s what moved me the most. I wanted to put on the screen a reality that I had not seen. In everything I do, I try to give a voice to those who don’t have one”, says the director, who made way for much more improvisation than usual, especially for the episode 9, where Antoine and his family go to the fair.
Autofiction
Having greatly drawn her inspiration from the turbulent daily life of her reconstituted family, Cathleen Rouleau tells the story of the Fenouillard clan from the point of view of actress Julie Picard, who discovers at the same time as the spectators – to whom she speaks directly while the action stops — the entourage of his new boyfriend, Marc Fenouillard (Claude Legault), CEO of a Quebec comedy festival still glued to his phone. “I’m much smarter than Marc! swears Sylvain Parent-Bédard, on the other hand.
Having left Montreal and her perfect lover, actor Léandre Arsenault (Iannicko N’Doua), for Marc, Julie meets the same day Margot (Micheline Bernard), her ADHD mother; his two brothers, Patrick le temperate (Sylvain Marcel) and Philippe le sans-filter (Hugues Frenette); his exemplary ex-wife, Justine (Fanny Mallette); his turbulent youngest son Georges (Édouard-B. Larocque); and, of course, Antoine.
Therefore, believing that she has no place in this family, Julie thinks of leaving Marc. But Antoine will know how to melt his heart. And that of the spectators, who will also be able to discover his daily life – and behind the scenes of the series – in the inspiring documentary by Jean Bourbonnais Anthony the Wonderful.
“What is great in this series is all the benevolence that has been put around Antoine. We wondered if it could be done and how we were going to do it. It is nevertheless a first in the history of television, a non-verbal polyhandicapped child who has an important role to play. On day one, Podz said, “The show is called About Anthony, and the shoots are going to be about Antoine.” Everything was done according to Antoine’s needs and pace, and that’s what created this little magic in the series, ”says Cathleen Rouleau, who already has plenty of ideas for a second season.
“With this series, I learned to be much more transparent in the way I do things. I had to do it to get into Antoine’s mind, into the family. The part that scared me was translating Antoine’s point of view on screen; I then relied on a little film I had made on the island of Fårö, where Bergman lived, and which no one saw”, concludes Podz.