From the first moments of this long interview, shot over several days in different places, interviewer André Robitaille evokes the idea that this may be the last time his guest has engaged in this kind of exercise. It must be said that Jean-Pierre Ferland is no longer very young: 87 years old, but still in good shape. The latter lends itself seriously and very often with obvious pleasure to the game of the ultimate interview, which explores its areas of shadow and light, strewn with existential questions, sometimes very intimate.
It is about family, love, relationship to fame or alcohol, fidelity and even (very briefly) sexuality, subjects on which the old man of Quebec song expresses himself by taking his time, sometimes admitting not knowing what to say. Robitaille, visibly at ease, feels a bond strong enough to allow himself “slobbery” questions and statements, to which Ferland often responds with his recognizable laugh.
This life assessment exercise turns out to be the most interesting when we go back to basics: to Ferland’s repertoire, immense, from his very beginnings, through his Yellow “Revolutionary” and its memorable songs, which he hopes to see through the ages. You have to see him marvel and be moved to hear again some pearls of his work, as if he was discovering them for the first time, and stuff it all with revealing anecdotes. The conclusion, which looks (a little forced) like a testament, ends up making us smile again with a suggestion that invites us to dive back into the recesses of his work.
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