“Billie, it’s her!” exclaims Sarah-Maude Beauchesne about Liliane Skelly, who breaks the screen in Mariloup Wolfe’s fourth feature film (Jouliks, 2019). Not only could the 18-year-old actress pass for her little sister, she also seems to possess the candor, lucidity and determination of the heroine of slush heart (Hurtubise, 2014), her first novel and a sales success (30,000 copies sold!).
“Before the first audition, two years ago, I had not read the novel, while all my friends knew it, says the newcomer. Immediately afterwards, I bought it and plunged into the world of Sarah-Maude; I read The forks, The summer before, At the lake of love… There’s something really authentic about what she writes, I love that. Between the first and the second audition, I also experienced things that made me identify even more with Billie. »
If the film is faithful to the novel, Sarah-Maude Beauchesne has nevertheless moved the action to the beginning of the summer, rejuvenated the characters by a year and emphasized the rivalry between Billie, always fond of slush with blue raspberry, and her older sister, the perfect Annette (Camille Felton).
“Even if Billie is later than the others, I thought that in 2023, the words would stick better to younger characters. By bringing the action back to the summer, I got away from CEGEP and could concentrate on the water park, which is a special and visually interesting universe that you don’t often see in teen movies. Lots of things can happen, even when the park is closed,” explains Mariloup Wolfe.
“I had never scripted in my life and I didn’t know how to adapt my novel, so the first drafts were very close to the book. It didn’t work, it didn’t lift, I couldn’t find the tone. At one point, I had a meeting with Valérie Beaugrand-Champagne, who told me to focus on the two sisters. And there, it tumbled! I had a lot of fun detaching myself from the novel because it allowed me to deepen certain subjects, ”says the screenwriter.
Thus the two young girls will have a crush on the cycling champion Pierre Forêt (Joseph Delorey), that is to say “the blond golden nuggets-golden-retriever with sky-blue eyes-storm-of- ballpoint-pen-snow”, as it is described in the novel by Billie, who would like him to be her first lover. As for Annette, whom no boy can resist, we suspect that it is to make Emile (Jacob Whiteduck-Lavoie) jealous, who has just dumped her on the pretext that he is her boss at the water park.
These slight modifications will also have made it possible to put more emphasis on Billie’s inseparable friends, Rosine (Salma Serraji), who does not like sex as much as she would have thought, and Juliette (Vivi-Anne Riel), who pliers for Annette. If the absence of the mother is little discussed, the father, played by François Létourneau (“He looks so much like my father!” confides the author), the only adult to have survived the passage from the book to the screen, always takes care of his heartbreak, while trying to follow the sentimental and sexual tribulations of Annette and Billie.
For me, it was a big part of the trip to see that we were doing useful work
blue swimming pool
If there is one element that Sarah-Maude Beauchesne was keen on, it was Billie’s voice, in order to preserve the poetry of the novel. “You really shouldn’t ignore the literary origin of slush heart. This is a time in my life when I wrote so much poetry. Incidentally, at the Zlín Film Festival in the Czech Republic, where the film opened, one of the first questions came from a girl of about 14 who wanted to know who wrote the poems. This is where we see that poetry can transcend everything. »
“In the film, we subtly deal with little things that are important to me, which are part of my daily life, of my literature, continues the screenwriter. Watching the film with the teenagers, it was really a nice feeling to think that it was maybe the first time that they heard about menstruation in a positive way, about consent, about homosexuality… For me, it’s t was a big part of the trip to see that we were doing useful work. It really moved me. »
To illustrate the poetic moments, Mariloup Wolfe created dreamlike aquatic scenes, including the one where Billie notices that she has her first period, with the novelist’s agreement. “From the first shot, I wanted to install the imagery of each of Billie’s thoughts, but without us knowing right away what it is in order to be in the poetry of the narration before cutting to come back to reality. I also proposed to Sarah-Maude the karaoke scene, which was not in the novel, to translate how Billie felt in her love story. We had fun composing paintings with red and blue. When she’s in danger, it’s much redder in the light; when it’s good, it’s blue. In karaoke, the two colors rub shoulders. »
For the young actress, the aquatic scenes, which required a lot of training, were more difficult to shoot than the more intimate scenes. “The scene with Pierre was prepared months in advance and shot with the greatest respect, with the coach of intimacy Roxane Néron. It was super-important to show that it’s not all pretty and that, as in life, there are discomforts. For other scenes with Pierre where there is embarrassment, Sarah-Maude and Mariloup suggested that I watch series like Heartstoppers on Netflix. »
Timeless charm
With Sarah-Maude Beauchesne, Mariloup Wolfe enjoyed creating the aesthetics of the film by exchanging hundreds of photos with her on their Pinterest account. If a song by Joe Dassin was already in the novel, it accentuated the nostalgic dimension of the story by adding hits by Pierre Lalonde and the Turtles.
“I wanted it to be a little timeless, to bring back vintage visual references so that everyone could relate to it. I didn’t want to bet too much on the musical style of the moment, the fashion of the moment, because I didn’t want everything to be out in two years. All of this is a somewhat heterogeneous mix that will allow the film to age better and expand the target audience, ”believes the director.
“I really liked the retro aspect because basically, old-time fashions in clothing and music come back all the time,” says Liliane Skelly. I hope that this aspect will affect young people as much as adults. We need more movies like slush heart, for its authenticity, interiority and poetry. »
Mariloup Wolfe hopes that slush heart will meet its audience, since Sarah-Maude Beauchesne is already working on the script for Slush Heart 2which combines the other two volumes of the trilogy, “Lèche-vitrines” (2022), where Billie has settled in Montreal with her sister and her mother, hoping to forget Pierre, and “Maxime” (2022), where Billie and Rosine become roommates.
“Will our young people, who are on Netflix and TikTok, voluntarily come to see the film? I have no idea, but I know there are rooms sold out for the first. But maybe it’s thanks to Camille Felton’s fan club… Will it be reflected in the following weeks? I have no idea, but I can’t wait to see, because maybe that’s what will make us fund more films for teens, ”concludes Mariloup Wolfe.