(Montreal) Many know him as an ardent defender of Quebec sovereignty, as a seasoned politician or as a former journalist, but few people know that René Lévesque was a film critic, and quite talented, according to Jean-Pierre Sirois -Trahan, director of the cinema program at Université Laval.
Posted at 1:19 p.m.
His book bright lightspublished by Éditions du Boréal, will be available in Quebec bookstores on 1er november. The 368-page book presents an “unsuspected Lévesque”, according to Mr. Sirois-Trahan.
He already knew that René Lévesque had written a few film columns, but while doing research, he realized that the former premier of Quebec had a weekly column for two years.
“People in the cinema didn’t really know that René Lévesque had been a real film critic, not just a journalist who had written about films, indicates Mr. Sirois-Trahan. It is an update of a forgotten time in his life, and also of the history of criticism in Quebec. We realize that he is truly one of the first modern critics in Quebec. »
The book plunges into a period that Mr. Lévesque called “his inter-war period”, that is to say between the Second World War and the Korean War. Subsequently, he will become much better known, notably as a reporter and TV host, notably on the news program focus.
“It’s a part of his life that we know very little about,” says the film professor. It was at this time that René Lévesque was to marry and have his first child, while working at Radio-Canada radio, “but for a short wave service, for the Canadian soldiers who are all over the world,” explains Sirois-Trahan.
“It is therefore in relative anonymity that he will write his chronicles”, he summarizes.
Jean-Pierre Sirois-Trahan is impressed by the quality of Mr. Lévesque’s chronicles. He describes the brilliance of his analyzes and boasts of his writing skills and outspokenness. “We discover that René Lévesque is a writer, not just a journalist who has a fine pen,” he says.
According to him, Mr. Lévesque was gifted for film criticism from the start. He emphasizes that the former journalist is not a theoretician, but that his thinking on cinema evolves, for example, on expressiveness in cinema, that is to say the link between substance and form.
Mr. Lévesque sees cinema as a mass art, indicates Mr. Sirois-Trahan. The cinephile writes for everyone and “it’s not something too specific. »
The book launch bright lights will take place on 1er November at the Cinémathèque québécoise. Its author, Mr. Sirois-Trahan, is eager for people to discover “this René Lévesque”, whom he considers quite moving. The film The cursedby René Clément, one of Mr. Lévesque’s favorite films, will be screened at the book launch.