There is no secret recipe for a successful film adaptation. In the case of a novel of the caliber of Diver (Le Quartanier, 2016), by Stéphane Larue, Prix des libraires du Québec 2017, the greater the risk of breaking your teeth. However, filmmaker Francis Leclerc and co-screenwriter Éric K. Boulianne have found the perfect balance between the desire to be faithful to the novel and that of distancing themselves from it to better appropriate it.
“When you adapt a work, the distance is necessary, and it makes an even better film when there is a freedom which is taken”, affirms Stéphane Larue, who acted as a consultant on the scenario with Éric de Larochellière, editions The Quartermaster. “I wanted to get involved in a very reserved way so that they work with as much autonomy as possible. I couldn’t see myself carrying the adaptation of my first novel on my shoulders. »
“It was the first time that I had adapted a book and I didn’t really know how to do it, recognizes Éric K. Boulianne. With Francis, the first instinct we had was to be faithful, then to take liberties and add our own over the versions of the script. Stéphane urged us to distance ourselves from his novel and make our film. »
From the first scene, while Steve Asselin’s camera takes us into the kitchen of La Trattoria in a genre film atmosphere, it is clear that the spirit of the autobiographical learning novel evoking The playerDostoyevsky, and Cooking confidences, by Anthony Bourdain, is indeed present. All that’s missing is the heady smell of grease, burnt sauce and disinfectant.
“When Patrick Senécal came to the launch of the Diver, says the novelist, I had made a dedication to him: “Horror can also exist in kitchens.” Any film about a body of work has something of the genre film because you want to make exist a rarely visited reality. It must be made to exist with its codes so that people who know this reality recognize it. In the novel as in the film, there are means borrowed from literature and genre cinema. »
“The idea for the first shot came to me after visiting kitchens and making the decision to shoot in a studio,” explains Francis Leclerc. The first plan is hypnosis. I told sound designer Olivier Calvert that I wanted it to be The Lord of the Rings for two minutes, with the burner as the eye of Sauron. He released metallic noises, swords in slow motion, horses, monsters, he drew from the soundtrack ofArrival, by Denis Villeneuve, made bass to create an unhealthy atmosphere. And then, we come to the little diver. It was very important to create that effect. »
player and liar
In this kitchen, meticulously designed by artistic director Mathieu Roy from the restaurant where Stéphane Larue worked twenty years ago, there is a feverish atmosphere and a palpable warmth. There are heard the orders issued by the vociferous brigade, the din of saucepans and the roar of appliances. Not to mention the metal coming out of the cassette recorder. In the midst of the noise is Stéphane, a frail and shy 19-year-old boy, who has been working in the establishment for a short time, as a dishwasher, in order to repay his gambling debts.
“A week before filming, I had a diving evening and it really got me back into it, says actor Henri Picard, who was briefly a diver at 17. I started washing the dishes at home; I wanted to look good because the character gains speed quite early. You should never stop, but focus on the pot you are washing and not be intimidated by the pile of dishes waiting. It’s boar, like job ! The dishwasher is the eyes and ears of the kitchen. The cooks have their frustrations, they’re on edge, and the dishwasher hopes their anger won’t come back to him, but often it does. »
Around the diver evolves a colorful fauna, including Bébert (Charles-Aubé Houde), an imposing cook with an aura of rock star who has a light elbow, Greg (Maxime de Cotret), sulphurous busboy who supplies the white powder, Bonnie (Joan Hart), fierce fan of metal, and the elegant Renaud (Fayolle Jean Jr), always at loggerheads with the scruffy chef Christian (Éric K. Boulianne). Shining by his absence Bob the chef, whose solar personality has been shared between Bébert and Benjamin (Emmanuel Schwartz), keeper of the bar where Mari-Lou (Jade Bérubé), Stéphane’s girlfriend, works. And, of course, Malik (Guillaume Laurin), the only one to whom the diver cannot lie or hide his addiction to video poker machines.
The diver is a good liar. It was necessary to play the good lie, but to have a small thing in the eye which betrays its culpability.
“The decor, very present in the novel, is a gold mine for us, but we had to go to the essentials, explains Francis Leclerc. It sucks to watch, a video poker machine… We looked at it from all sides, we took it apart. I wanted to be in the machine, to understand it. At the casino, we observed three guys about Henri’s age; they had no fun, lost all their money and went back. It is pathetic. The real subject, apart from the gambling problem, is lying. »
“The diver is a good liar, confirms Henri Picard. It was necessary to play the good lie, but to have a small thing in the eye which betrays its culpability. At the audition, I had worked on the diction of the character, who is a guy in lack, the game being a drug. He always needs cash to play, but he’s also in denial, he’s sure Malik believes his lies. In life, Stéphane is very down to earth, he doesn’t speak for nothing, but I didn’t want to imitate him; I relied a lot on the novel and the screenplay. »
With Scorsese sauce
Novel of a metal fuel cinephile, The plunger shouldn’t lose any of its raw energy on screen. If Francis Leclerc did not want an original soundtrack, he gave pride of place to music: Metallica, Iron Maiden, Bruce Dickinson, Neil Young, The Chemical Brothers, Beholder, Stefie Shock, Jean Leloup, to name a few. name a few.
“It’s a raw, dirty universe, and I wanted to respect the aspect fan of music, but you have to “cut to the chase” and get in on the action. With Stéphane, we chatted about cinema and music, but my script was not as visual and auditory as the novel. I worked on the rhythm a lot because I wanted it to be well-beaten when I read it”, says Éric K. Boulianne.
Having drawn a lot of inspiration from Scorsese’s films, MeanStreets, Taxi Driver, Casino And Goodfellasas well as Dog Day AfternoonSidney Lumet, and Brazilby Terry Gilliam, during a zany scene involving Frédéric Millaire Zouvi, Francis Leclerc also pays homage to a film by a filmmaker for whom music was essential.
“I wanted that The plunger be something trippy to watch like CRAZY, which I see every year. The story being told by the character 15 years later, I needed a more mature voice than Henri’s. So I proposed it to Marc-André Grondin, who hadn’t been able to do the narration in CRAZY for the same reason. He had read the novel, Jean-Marc Vallée had just died, he was very moved: “Man, do you really want me to do something I’ve never done?” I’m pretty happy with my idea. »
The film “The plunger” will be presented at the opening of the Rendez-vous Québec cinema, at the Maisonneuve theater, on February 22. In theaters February 24. It will also be presented during the Nuit blanche, at the Musée du Cinéma, on February 25.