A secondary school teacher, François Plante (Michel Charette) is “at the end of the line”. After farting a cable in front of his students, who were happy to film the scene which has gone viral on social networks, he announces to the school principal (Laurent Paquin) that he is leaving teaching.
Much to the chagrin of his wife Mélanie (Sandrine Bisson), a former nurse who discovers a new passion every week, and their son Étienne (Sam-Éloi Girard), anxious on a cégep sabbatical for a few years, he has swallowed up all their savings. and borrows money from his mother-in-law Carole (Louise Bombardier) to buy a farmhouse in Montérégie in the hope of writing a novel there. And, above all, to find happiness there.
“I feel that there is a lot of pressure to be happy for a long time, advanced screenwriter Daniel Gagnon during a press briefing following the presentation of the first four of the ten episodes of the squeaky comedy Happiness. With networks, we compare ourselves a lot to others, we see lots of happy people. With the pandemic, there is a sort of return to the countryside which is taking place and this is not trivial. The idea is to seek happiness, far from the stress of the city. But where is happiness? This is the big question. “
For François, happiness is certainly not in the countryside. As soon as he arrived in the small town, he discovered that his farmhouse was nicknamed “the bowl” and that the previous owner committed suicide because he could not write his novel. In no time, François turns against the community when he wants to prevent the installation of wind turbines near his property. To add to his misfortunes, Carole and Jocelyn (Guillaume Cyr), his boyfriend follower of the most zany conspiracies, too often come to the toilet.
“If you’re not happy in the city and you’re transporting yourself to the countryside, you shouldn’t be much happier.” Seems like those who are happy live in it without realizing it, but for others who, like Daniel and me, and some people, have a hard time being happy, happiness is like a mirage. , we never get there. I believe that François will not succeed ”, explains François Avard. “Maybe in season 8! », Jokes his writing partner.
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The idea behind Happiness, series for which François Avard has reconnected with part of the winning team of the cult series The Bougons are also that’s life !, that is to say the director Alain Desrochers as well as Michel Trudeau and Fabienne Larouche (Aetios Productions), goes back ten years.
At the time, the native of Saint-Hyacinthe was coming out of a burnout and was looking for a second home in the countryside: “I had picked up ideas that had been on a shelf for a while,” he recalls. Thanks to Fabienne and Michel, the fire started again. I then contacted Daniel. I asked him if he was happy. He said “no!” ; I told him “get on board!” “
In this satire of today’s society, where Avard and Gagnon cheerfully flay all generations, the left, the right and the center, there is the same engine as behind The Bougons : “Do yourself good first. “
“With this series, it allows us to empty our bag of all that we enarve within a concept that wants to be universal, reveals François Avard. It’s been 15 years since The Bougons, that I pick up pieces of bullshit paper. Although I may have gone through some Beautiful discomforts or anything else, there, I am happy and I discover that I am not alone because Daniel also points out to me things which do not have allure. Of course there are little personal messages, but I believe there will be something for everyone. “
By presenting the series to the press, Denis Dubois, vice-president of original content at Quebecor, also warned: “No one is targeted, but everyone is! “
If the times have changed since The Bougons (2004-2006), François Avard affirms that he and his sidekick never slowed down their enthusiasm so as not to shock decorum, any more than TVA or Aetios wanted to slow them down. At most, Avard has calmed down over time: “I am 53 years old, I have matured. We are going to tell each other, The Bougons, it was trash ; we were laughing dark yellow and there was a lot of vulgarity. Of course, I wanted to go elsewhere. “
“The caution we are currently experiencing is institutional,” thinks Michel Trudeau. The institution is afraid of making mistakes, but individuals still have this need to let go and that is what Daniel and François express. “
François Avard, who is not on social networks and therefore does not fear hateful comments, does not hide that he would like Happiness shakes the spectators’ cage like The Bougons. Which would not displease Denis Dubois either, although this is not the mandate of the series: “We are at a time when everything is polarizing. We expect there will be reactions. And ultimately, we would not hate that because these reactions will just push the discussion. “
Surrounded by a solid cast, where we notably find François Chénier as a history teacher who recalls Mononque Bougon, and Marc Fournier, far from the taciturn Yves Jacob de District 31, Michel Charette returns with brilliance to the comedy. From one nervous breakdown to another, from one virulent criticism to another, the interpreter of the friendly detective sergeant Bruno Gagné turns out to be hilarious and touching. It’s a safe bet that more than one will recognize themselves in the quest for happiness of his character as a teacher at the end of the roll.
“François is cynical, but there is a kind of romanticism in this series and that’s what I liked when I read the script. It’s not just violent and aggressive. We start with a shock scene, but then there is affection, empathy, tenderness as in The Bougons, which was the forerunner of something. We arrive with this opus and the public knows that they will laugh yellow, but that they will be moved, ”concludes Fabienne Larouche.