Documentary | Carl Leblanc and Losing Mario, understanding with the heart

“We go to the cinema to understand with the heart,” says documentary filmmaker and author Carl Leblanc of his new film. Lose Mario. In fact, by shooting a film about the suicide of his oldest and best friend, he wanted to give voice to this human being who had become “unreachable” in the last years of his life. Interview.

Andre Duchesne
The Press

Since The heart of Auschwitz, all of Carl Leblanc’s films challenged us, jostled us, forced us to reflect. Almost always marked by moving moments, they remain celebrations of life and a reminder of the fact that each human being is the product of an accumulation of moments of life, experiences, knowledge and emotions.

Lose Mario, his most recent documentary broadcast this Wednesday evening on Télé-Québec, is no exception. On the contrary, Carl Leblanc pushes the limits of his thinking even further by diving into the life of his best friend who, a few years ago, took his own life.

Although he lived alone, Mario, as we can see in the film, was surrounded by a band of several friends forming a solid nucleus and whose bonds extended over several years.

“It’s very fair and that’s what his friend Alice says in the film, explains Carl Leblanc in an interview. She explains: “I don’t understand how one can be so loved and decide to end it.” It’s very disturbing to admit that. We could mechanically say that if you are loved, there is no reason to be sad. But the life of human beings is much more complex. »

Carl Leblanc was 17 when he first met his friend Mario in Moscow. Their friendship spans decades. Mario was godfather to Carl’s daughter. Both shared a passion for literature, especially the works of Claudio Magris and Joseph Conrad.

The filmmaker saw his friend, employed in the public service, gradually decline. “He was undermined a lot by his work. He suffered pressure, psychological harassment. As he was single and childless, his work took a very important part in his life. »

“Dive into Mario’s head”

Carl Leblanc is no doubt aware that this approach may not be unanimous. He thought long and hard before starting. He took the time to convince his friends to participate in the filming, promising them that the film would not only be about the Mario of recent years, but about the one with whom they had many happy moments.

He nevertheless had the feeling that this story was worth telling in order to add his voice, his perception, in a big whole allowing to better understand the beings who surround us.

He also had material as sensitive as it was exceptional to tell his story: his friend’s diary which, day after day, expressed not only his distress, but his rage at not being able to find the way back to the surface. These passages were put into images thanks to the animations of François Fortin.

Mr. Leblanc affirms that without this diary, he would not have made the film. “I had the material there allowing me to dive into Mario’s head. I felt that it had story value and that motivated me. »

On a more personal note, his approach allowed him to spend more time with this missing friend. For him, making this film was nothing therapeutic. “It was more painful than restorative,” he says. But Carl Leblanc is inhabited, every day of his life, by the refusal to simplify, to categorize people. In each person he sees a complex, stratified, multi-layered life.

“There is complexity and richness in all stories. »

Lose Mario is broadcast this Wednesday evening at 8 p.m. on Télé-Québec as part of Suicide Prevention Week. In theaters from February 11. Mr. Leblanc will take part in a cinema-meeting on Sunday, February 13 at 2:30 p.m. at Cinéma Beaubien.