Emma apparently has everything to be fulfilled, both professionally and personally. A second glance, however, reveals that this is not the case. Indeed, the young and brilliant conductor is entangled in a toxic relationship with her domineering father – and agent. At the same time, his lover keeps putting the brakes on between the two of them. More than just existential false notes, these torments threaten the rest of Emma’s career, in the running for a prestigious position. In Happy DaysSophie Desmarais displays virtuosity under the direction of Chloé Robichaud.
The film was born from an image that captured Chloé Robichaud’s imagination.
“One day, I saw a female conductor in concert. The initial flash was that: a woman on a podium in front of a huge room,” recalls Chloé Robichaud, met with her star at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) before their participation, this week, at the Festival du nouveau cinema (FNC)
“I found it to be a strong symbol. In my films, I like to show female characters in positions where we are not used to seeing them. In this case, a 30-year-old female conductor is unusual, and it feels good. Once I started digging into the subject of classical music, I became completely fascinated. I immediately understood that the music could “speak” about Emma’s emotional journey, in a hyper-cinematic way, also universal: we may not speak the same language, but with classical music, everyone connects. »
Sophie Desmarais felt this connection as soon as she read the draft that the filmmaker submitted to her.
“When Chloé made me read her scene-by-scene, which was very, very strong, I didn’t understand that it was for me. I was heavily pregnant, and I was just reading a friend’s work. We had a long exchange; I mentioned composers, like Schönberg…” relates the actress revealed ten years ago in Sarah prefers runningChloé Robichaud’s first feature film, and a pioneering queer work in Quebec cinema.
Taken by a burst of emotion, Sophie Desmarais continues:
“When, at the end of our day of discussion, she asked me if I wanted to make the film, I was taken aback: eight and a half months pregnant, in jogging pants, uncombed… It moved me, because motherhood for an actress is not easy. But Chloe was confident I would be ready to shoot on time, and her confidence gave me confidence. This was all before this series of films about female conductors. This is very Jungian, because only four percent of conductors are women. »
Choose herself
Aside from the complexity of the protagonist, Sophie Desmarais was captivated by the unhealthy relationship between the agent father and his prodigy daughter.
“The intimacy of this toxic relationship, the nuances, it was something I had never seen in cinema, not like that. I found it worthy and profound. I also loved the contrast between Chloé’s lacy manner and the grand display, the grandiose, of the symphonic environment. The two coexist wonderfully in the film. And then… Chloé’s words immediately resonated with me. »
Given the obvious complicity between the two artists, we understand that their relationship is anything but toxic. In any case, when asked about the said statement, the filmmaker thought for a moment before responding.
“It’s a dense film. I express several concerns there, but the most important, I suppose, is this idea of a young woman choosing herself. Lots of people around her seem to know for her what she should do, think, feel… Ultimately, she learns to feel for herself. »
Like Sarah before her, Emma must ultimately give herself the means to be “by herself” and “for herself”. Furthermore, this question of “feeling” is a crucial dramatic element of the film. Because Emma is repressing. However, as a mentor pointed out to her, Emma has an approach that is more studious than visceral, and this is reflected in the result she hears.
In this regard, a montage alternating between a presentation of theAdagietto by Mahler and a series of family flashbacks, sees the protagonist experience a painful, but emancipatory revelation.
Help from the maestro
Interestingly, Sophie Desmarais took a while, by her own admission, to determine how she would play Emma.
“Certain aspects struck me straight away, like his solitude. Emma… she tries to connect with the orchestra, she tries to connect with her girlfriend, with her father, with her mother… Everything fails: communion does not happen. Chloé and I discussed this a lot, how Chloé isolates Emma in the frame, all these scenes in the underground passages of Place des Arts, which represent a bit of the underground passages of Emma’s soul… For her, the Postage will go through music. »
As he explained to us in a previous interview at TIFF, this bias towards liberating music is the reason why conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin agreed to be the artistic and technical advisor for the film.
“Acquiring these skills was sometimes frustrating, but always exciting,” notes Sophie Desmarais. Exceptional meetings with Yannick and other young conductors… With Yannick, discussing Mozart, and asking him to show me how to conduct in an academic way, and not a virtuoso like him, because Emma is like that at the start: a dissociated elbow , one hand more stiff… With Kensho Watanabe, I asked him how to suggest frustration on the podium, and I filmed him while he did it to then reproduce it, bar by bar. »
To specify Chloé Robichaud: “I wanted musicians to see the film and be amazed; This is the level of realism that Yannick and I wanted to achieve. »
A free filmmaker
Certainly, Happy Days is part of the continuity of the director’s previous works (see also Country) by the nature of its protagonist, but the film marks an important turning point for Chloé Robichaud. In fact, the filmmaker broadens her cinematic horizons here.
“My previous films were more calm, more structured, a lot of symmetry. For this film, I sought to free myself from this shackles. I broke the lines with a more intuitive shoulder-mounted camera. Before, the performers molded themselves to my frame, but now, I adapted my camera to them, to their movements, to their instincts. With Ariel Méthot [la directrice photo], we made sure that I had great latitude in my movements: I willingly placed myself in the background, with a long lens, so that the actors would forget about me. »
Chloé Robichaud had, to use her expression, “cinematic intentions”, but only allowed herself to be guided by a single question: “What nourishes the emotion of the scene?” “.
“Perhaps I wondered less before. There, I allowed myself to think less and connect more to my emotions. I freed myself, like Emma. »
The film Happy Days opens on October 20, but will previously be screened at the FNC on October 6 and 11. On October 8, Chloé Robichaud will participate in a cross-discussion with Atom Egoyan.