It felt like the Met Gala on Sunday evening at Roy Thomson Hall, the red carpet was so overflowing with people in extravagant outfits. All queer and non-binary Torontonians gathered to attend the premiere gala of SOLOby Sophie Dupuis, with Théodore Pellerin, who plays Simon, a drag artist, whose brilliant career will be weighed down by a serious existential crisis.
Obviously excited by SOLO, Cameron Bailey, the director of the Toronto Film Festival, brought the director and some members of the cast on stage before the screening. Bailey was delighted with the flamboyant nature of Dupuis’ film, whose story is inspired by the Montreal drag scene. Adding that it has its place in the programming – the feature film is eligible for voting for the Audience Award, the TIFF People’s Choice Award, awarded at the end of the festival.
Entourée de six interprètes de SOLO – Théodore Pellerin, Félix Maritaud, Alice Moreault, Vlad Alexis, Jean Marchand et Tommy Joubert –, Sophie Dupuis a ensuite participé à une discussion après la projection. Elle flottait sur un nuage, si ravie par le déroulement de la projection qu’elle cherchait ses mots en anglais au début. La réalisatrice et scénariste a expliqué au public torontois que SOLO raconte deux, voire trois histoires dans un seul film : l’univers drag, les liens de Simon avec sa famille et ses amours impossibles.
PHOTO ARTHUR MOLA, FOURNIE PAR AXIA FILMS
La réalisatrice Sophie Dupuis a présenté SOLO au TIFF dimanche soir.
En écrivant mon scénario [qui a eu plusieurs versions], I wanted to show the mechanisms of a toxic relationship. Why does a being allow himself to be destroyed by someone else? What makes Simon stay with his lover even if he is suffering? That he doesn’t see what’s happening to him?
Sophie Dupuis, director of SOLO
“There are no clear answers,” continued the filmmaker. Watch dog. Because these are relationships of ambivalence: Simon does not know which foot to dance on. He is manipulated, put on a pedestal, then rejected only to fall further. It’s always ambiguous, this kind of relationship. »
The whirlwind of night life
In SOLO, Simon is a rising star in the drag art scene. When he meets Olivier (Félix Maritaud), the new recruit at the bar where he performs, it’s love at first sight. But their love story will quickly turn into a destructive dynamic. In parallel with his toxic relationship, Simon lives a bittersweet relationship with his mother (Anne-Marie Cadieux), a famous opera singer who works abroad, and whom he no longer sees.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY AXIA FILMS
Théodore Pellerin in SOLO
Juxtaposing the electrifying performances of lip sync, from music and dance (the numbers are choreographed by Gérard Reyes) to moments of intimacy between Simon and his loved ones, the director visibly wanted to show the humanity of drag; vulnerable beings despite their poise on stage. Moreover, Simon’s (and his accomplices at the bar) dependence on alcohol and artificial paradises is a reflection of a bad way of life.
SOLO, it is also the demonstration of the immense talent of Théodore Pellerin. The latter bursts the screen. He was also warmly applauded on Sunday evening at Roy Thomson Hall. The actor skillfully plays both sides of Simon. It’s a (very) great performance. The actor’s performance is inhabited by sensitivity, truth and an inner world.
SOLO hits theaters on September 15. The 48e Toronto International Film Festival runs until September 17.
Not to be missed on screen 13: photos of the red carpet from the Montreal premiere of SOLO at the Imperial Cinema Monday evening