A story ” feel good American-style, but a plethora of star actors from here and an intrinsically Quebec humor: the new romantic Christmas comedy December 23 ticks all the boxes in theory to become a huge commercial success. But while movie theaters are still struggling to reconnect with moviegoers, will Miryam Bouchard’s new film, scripted by India Desjardins, succeed in winning the favor of Quebecers on the eve of the Holidays? Expectations are high.
“You shouldn’t think about that. My only motivation was to make a Christmas film that I was going to like. We have to stay in the present moment, because if we work according to the box office, we will paralyze ”, tempers Miryam Bouchard, who offers us here her second feature film of the year, after the dramatic comedyVanishing lines.
The director does not hide it however, she hopes that her new film will rally the general public “from 7 to 77 years old” in theaters. Miryam Bouchard even harbors the ambition that December 23 become a holiday classic thanks to TV reruns, just like Mom, I missed the plane or The tree has the balls.
On paper, December 23 in any case brings together all the elements to be a great success. An choral film, India Desjardins’ screenplay is broken down into a multitude of plots which, as we will discover as we go along, are obviously all interrelated. First, that of Elsa Lévesque (Virginie Fortin), a clumsy hardened bachelor who has a crush on her childhood friend (Sacha Charles) whom she meets once every year, during the holidays. Among the other characters: Stéphanie (Catherine Brunet) and Alex (François Arnaud), who are living their last Christmas together, just before the arrival of their first child. Stéphane Rousseau embodies a somewhat nerdy variety singer who is attempting a comeback with a Christmas album. Added to them are Marie-France (Guylaine Tremblay) and Normand (Michel Barrette), a couple of baby boomers who are expecting their children for New Year’s Eve, before the latter finds himself between life and death following a a heart attack.
It starts with a personal anecdote; In 2011, my Christmas was turned upside down when my stepfather had a heart attack. From there, I witnessed a lot of coincidences and crossovers. I felt like a Christmas movie was being written before my eyes. And when I was thinking that, I realized that there weren’t that many Christmas movies in Quebec.
For none of the characters, Christmas will go as planned. Normand’s heart attack, a caricature of the boomer overwhelmed by his time, will be the triggering event of the film, which also stars Bianca Gervais, Christine Beaulieu and Marie-Hélène Thibault. “It starts with a personal anecdote; In 2011, my Christmas was turned upside down when my stepfather had a heart attack. From there, I witnessed a lot of coincidences and crossovers. I felt like a Christmas movie was being written before my eyes. And when I was thinking that, I realized that there weren’t that many Christmas films in Quebec, ”explains India Desjardins. The latter ensures in the same breath that the character played by Virginie Fortin, who is also the author of bestselling children’s books in the film, is not her alter ego.
Bold
India Desjardins was still writing the popular series of children’s books Aurelie Laflamme when she started working on the screenplay for December 23, more than 10 years ago. Very quickly, the idea of making an choral film imposed itself. An ambitious project, both for the screenwriter and the director.
“It’s fragile, the tone of an ensemble film. You have to make sure that everyone plays at the same level, because otherwise you can lose track. Even if all the actors do not play together, we did a general rehearsal and that was very important, underlines Miryam Bouchard, who also loved her experience. I absolutely wanted there to be a domino effect between all the plots. So it was quite a technical challenge, because I had to explain that we couldn’t cut this or that scene, because otherwise the story wouldn’t hold together,” continues India Desjardins, who wanted to watch the rushes after the days of filming.
It’s fragile, the tone of an ensemble film. You have to make sure that everyone plays at the same level, because otherwise you can lose track. Even if all the actors don’t play together, we did a dress rehearsal and that was very important.
The director and the screenwriter, who had known each other for a few years, were on the same wavelength from the start. It was even India Desjardins who thought of Miryam Bouchard two years ago when the film project began to take shape in earnest. The two women wanted to make a feature film that borrowed from all the codes of American Christmas films: a love story, snowy landscapes, Christmas music. But there was also a desire on both sides to adapt these Hollywood standards to the Quebec reality.
” In When Harry Met Sally, which I consider to be a Christmas film, you can see Manhattan really well… I wanted to be as chauvinistic as a New Yorker with Central Park… I love Quebec, I love our landscape. I also wanted us to be proud to be Quebecers by putting on our own Christmas songs,” explains Miryam Bouchard.
Ode to Quebec
We feel, in fact, throughout December 23 this desire to highlight emblematic places in the province, be it Charlevoix, Old Quebec or Sainte-Catherine Street. All under real snow cover. Filming took place in the middle of winter, and often outdoors. Some scenes were shot just after snowstorms, which didn’t put the actors off.
“Shooting in winter is more difficult, it’s more expensive, but it’s part of us as Nordics. We were well dressed, it wasn’t that bad,” says Guylaine Tremblay, who sees in the cold “a person in themselves”.
We do indeed want to wrap ourselves in a blanket while drinking eggnog during December 23. A comforting film, therefore, that the director did not want too sweet either. “It’s magic, it’s sweet, it’s benevolence… Sugar cream, but not too much, because otherwise, it gives me heartache”, illustrates Miryam Bouchard.
Will the public follow? The answer at the end of the holiday season. “We’ll see each other again on January 7”, as the song that inspired the title of the film says.
December 23 opens in theaters November 25.