The Dufresne family, whose castle, located in the Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough, is now a museum and historic heritage site, changed the face of Montreal at the start of the 20th century.e century. However, few know that its history first took shape in Mauricie, on the shores of Lake Saint-Pierre.
It was there that Oscar’s mother, Victoire Du Sault, the first shoemaker in the history of Quebec, created, manufactured and sold her first models of shoes, before founding, with her husband and a partner, the Dufresne and Locke, a major factory which in 1900 had more than 500 workers and which became the first North American company to export its products to Egypt.
The story of this pioneer is at the heart of the film the cobbler, inspired by the series of novels of the same name (1998-2003), written by Pauline Gill. But more than his extraordinary career, it is the torments of his soul and his amorous passions that form the fabric of this great melodrama, in line with Seraph. A man and his sin (2002) and New France (2004). On the menu: forbidden loves, love triangles, betrayals and heartbreaks.
“I was fascinated from the first reading of the script by this passionate, but disturbing and disturbing love story, carried by strong, honest and complex characters, indicates François Bouvier. There is a whole universe that is created around the relationship that each of them has with love, whether unfailing, secret, filial or carnal. That’s what seduced me. »
A great melodrama
The first draft of the screenplay had been lying around in Sylvain Guy’s chest of drawers for 18 years, after an order from producer Lorraine Richard fell through. “At the time, I read the four volumes of Pauline Gill’s series, and by pure chance, I understood that it was about my family. Victoire Du Sault is my great-great-grandmother,” says the latter. Years later, a viewing of the film Augustine’s Passion (2015) rekindled his flame for the project.
This is not the first time that Sylvain Guy, screenwriter of Louis Cyr (2013) and Monica the machine gun (2004), lends itself to the game of writing for the screen the tumultuous lives of people who really existed. The challenge was different, however, since rather than biographies and archives, he chose this time to use only works of fiction as source material.
“I focused on the first two, where we follow Victoire Du Sault from her teenage years to her mid-thirties. The difficulty was to condense, to target the narrative arc, to find my story in there. I decided to make a melodrama, a term often connoted in a pejorative way. Yes, there is sentimental outpouring, but it is the plot, above all, which is melodramatic. The story of There shoemaker is riddled with twists and turns, and it is this, more than amorous passion, that provokes great emotions in the viewer. »
Interiority and character
The director and the screenwriter both had an actress in mind to play this ambitious and passionate woman. “We didn’t have to fight for long. We had thought of the same person, ”says the latter.
“We needed an actress who could show great game economy, who could carry within her the inner truth of a woman invaded by her secrets. Rose-Marie Perreault is in a class apart. She is extraordinary,” adds François Bouvier.
The main interested party did not hesitate long before accepting this proposal, which also represents her first major role on the big screen. “Victoire Du Sault is a visionary, a feminist before her time, unknown to the general public. We talk a lot about the men who founded our company. I wanted to defend this woman who established an empire, and who applied the same intensity in her career as in her love life. She allowed herself, at a time when women were considered minors, to live out her desires and her passions. »
To slip into the shoes of this 19th century craftswomane century, Rose-Marie Perreault — who describes herself as “not very manual” — observed shoemakers who still use period tools, in addition to being guided by a consultant on set to learn how to manipulate them. “I saw Victoire as someone physical, very concrete in her intelligence. I wanted it to show through in my every move. »
The actress also worked with the costume and makeup teams to make the character’s aging on screen believable. “I play the shoemaker from 17 to 38 years old, and it would have been easy to fall into caricature. I wanted to find out how a person ages in their body, their gaze, their voice. »
The make-up artist, Marie-France Guy, accentuated certain expressions of Rose-Marie Perreault’s face, to age her, but above all to show the sum of the disappointments and worries that make up the heroine. From how to wear the corset to the choice of shoes, everything was combed through to allow the actress to find the right tone, even if the film was shot out of order.
The technical team has also done a colossal job to ensure that every detail of the decor and the staging is faithful to the era represented. “It’s a project that required a lot of logistical work. First, we were shooting in two different cities. We therefore had to film the shots and reverse shots of the same scene two weeks apart. Then, did you know that cows, in the past, still had horns? They were difficult to find, laughs François Bouvier. But the specialists around me have done an incredible job. On set, all I had to do was shout “Action!”, and do what really excites me: directing the actors. »
The film the cobbler hits theaters on March 17.