Léa Pool brought to Quebec cinema a very personal signature, a different way of approaching human relationships, and an unprecedented vision of Montreal. On the occasion of the major retrospective dedicated to her by the Cinémathèque québécoise, we take stock with a creator who is always on the move.
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When she first set foot in Quebec, at the age of 25, Léa Pool had no idea that her life would be built around cinema. Of course, she attended the Cinémathèque suisse, in Lausanne, during the years when she was a teacher, but she wasn’t really “enthusiast” yet. It was only on the advice of a friend, who encouraged her to enroll in a new communications program at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), that the world of video and cinema was revealed to him.
“I was thinking of returning to Switzerland after a year,” she recalls during an interview with The Press. However, I had the sting. So I did the entire program, including the last two years in cinema. There is also that I then fell in love with Quebec. I was not someone when I chose to settle here, but the country, people. I had a lot of trouble imagining myself going back to Lausanne to resume my teaching profession, which I practiced there a little to get out of the family, to be independent. I quickly made friends here. But I still have a very strong link with Switzerland. »
A sense of accomplishment
Forty-seven years after his arrival in Quebec, forty-two after the release of Rhinestone Coffee, her very first film, produced in an artisanal way, Léa Pool is entitled to a major retrospective dedicated to her by the Cinémathèque québécoise, during which the 13 feature films that the filmmaker has made to date will be presented. Some of whom (Body lost, The wild lady, Movements of desire) are practically impossible to find.
“There’s definitely a sense of pride and accomplishment, but at the same time there’s always that dialogue with that little inner voice that makes you think maybe you’re not quite up to it.” such an honor. Designers are always very good at doubting, perhaps even more so for women designers. »
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, PRESS ARCHIVES
Léa Pool, surrounded by Céline Bonnier and Lysandre Ménard, the two main actresses of Augustine’s Passion
But when I look at the range of films, I think it really makes for an interesting retrospective because it covers a lot of different things. Some films are very close to me, others testify to a search for other things, but I never embarked on a project that I didn’t like, or that I couldn’t have defended. They all have their reason for being.
Lea Pool
From The woman at the hotel, which has earned her numerous awards here and elsewhere, Léa Pool has been able to count on a horde of admiring filmgoers, whose loyalty has never waned over the years. We are waiting for the next Pool in the same way as we are hoping for the next offerings from filmmakers whose paths we have been following for a long time. The one to whom Augustine’s Passion won the prize for best direction at the Gala Québec Cinéma in 2016 is well aware of this.
“I really thank those who like my cinema! she says. On Facebook, I also wrote a little message in which I said I was looking forward to meeting them. It’s very sincere. I will be present at the Cinémathèque for practically all screenings. »
Beyond labels
His cinema being often built around female characters, with, frequently, a fluidity in terms of sexual orientations (this theme was more rarely addressed during the 1980s), several labels have been attached to his work. Without rejecting them, Léa Pool still claims to be a filmmaker first and foremost.
PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
In 2016, Augustine’s Passion won Léa Pool the prize for best director at the Gala Québec Cinéma.
“At the beginning, I was very quickly associated with feminism and that annoyed me, she confides. Of course I was – I always have been – but I hate anything that is reductive. A personality is a mixture of things and an identity is much more complex than a label. »
I consider myself a filmmaker before being a feminist. I have nothing against the fact that my films have also been associated with gay and lesbian cinema, because that is also part of me, but reducing my cinema to just one thing bothers me.
Lea Pool
“The new labels of gender and orientations that we have now, even if I don’t understand them all, have this good thing that they don’t relegate people to a single category,” she continues. Personally, I have never “fitted” in a particular box. But at some point, you let go. Does the gay community identify me as gay? OK, that’s okay. Feminists identify me as a feminist? Very perfect. But that’s not all I am. »
The new generation
Obviously, the emergence of female directors, who have breathed new life into Quebec cinema for the past few years, from Sophie Deraspe to Geneviève Allard via Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette, Monia Chokri, Sophie Dupuis and many others, delights her.
“It gives hope because I felt like I was a bit alone for a long time. There were others with me, of course, but they often stopped after two or three films. The most difficult thing is to last, especially since no artist can always stay at the top. »
I hope that this new generation of female filmmakers, whom I find extremely gifted, will be able to build a long-term work, in the same way as a writer or a filmmaker does from whom each book, each film is expected.
Lea Pool
PHOTO ROBERT MAILLOUX, PRESS ARCHIVES
Léa Pool and William Hurt at a press conference held at the time of The Blue Butterfly (The blue butterfly)
Haven’t shot anything since And at worst, we’ll get married, five years ago, Léa Pool hopes to soon undertake her next feature film. This is an adaptation of part of the novel Gold (Hotel Silence), by the Icelandic author Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir, which should in principle count Sébastien Ricard in its cast.
“I’ve been working on it for three years,” says the filmmaker. It takes place in an unnamed country at war where, after a ceasefire, two young people in their twenties take over their aunt’s hotel while trying to rebuild their lives after having lost everything. A Quebecer experiencing a personal tragedy also finds himself in this hotel by chance and must rebuild himself. It’s very dark at first, but it’s heading towards the light. It talks a lot about women and war. And solidarity. »
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Céline Bonnier and Laurent Lucas surround Léa Pool during the filming of Mom is at the hairdresser.
When asked if the motivation to make films remains the same for her as it was 40 years ago, Léa Pool evokes a visceral need for expression.
“I’ve never liked the more glamorous aspect of this profession. I don’t really like being up front either. My life is built around my films. I can remember a time more easily by situating a film that I have made, because it corresponds specifically to a stage in my life. »
Léa Pool: moving figures, from May 17 to 31 at the Cinémathèque québécoise.