This September 20, the book appears in bookstores Louise Portal, love, embody, write. However, it is not a traditional autobiography, in that the main interested party engages with his co-author, Samuel Larochelle, in what seems like a long interview. The formula was used for this interview with the star of Cordelia, The decline of the American empire, Full blastAnd To the south. In this regard, it should be noted, transparency requires, that Louise Portal is a sort of fairy godmother for the author of these lines. Hence the tone of confidence that emanates from the “question-answer” exercise that follows.
What motivated you to participate in this dialogue, rather than writing a classic autobiography?
In recent years, my works have been quite autobiographical. It started with Pauline and Ithen with The diary of my life… Alone: these women I know…I talked a lot about myself in my novel The actress, playing with fiction… Then, I hit the seventies: it’s a stage. I figured it was time for an inner journey.
I liked the idea of an intergenerational exchange. I know Samuel well and I find that he writes wonderfully well: he is a journalist and a writer, and I wanted this collaboration to be with a writer. That’s why I chose it. I wanted to tell my story to someone who would be able to receive me and hear me.
Did not formulating the questions yourself, as you would have done for a traditional autobiography, make the exercise of introspection different? For example, are there certain areas that you found yourself revisiting?
Yes ! Because Samuel was curious. As he is in his thirties, he knew certain things, having read them, but he did not know many others and he wanted to learn more. Among other things, on the transition between the actress and the writer: the first has long dominated, but now, she is slowly fading away, while the second is increasingly taking over… This is also for this reason that we do not go from early childhood to today in a direct line: we wander. It often happened that we spoke for a day, and during our next meeting, Samuel came back to me with something that I had told him the time before, and which he had thought about for his part. It was very stimulating.
In the book, you confide: “I have always been an actress who abandoned herself to the moment, to the emotions, to this unique meeting with my partners. My approach to acting is not intellectual, but emotional, passionate and sensual. I will always approach my roles through instinct. I put my heart, my soul and my body at the service of the character to be played. »
Knowing how you work, as an actress, and being able to explain it so clearly, I imagine that doesn’t come spontaneously…
I was very aware of being like that very early on. I see myself again, at the Conservatory, playing Catherine in Suddenly last summer, by Tennessee Williams, directed by Robert Lalonde: I experienced moments of an intensity there that I have only found two or three times in my career. It was visceral. Years later, on the heels of my Genie Award [maintenant Écrans canadiens] For The decline of the American empire, by Denys Arcand, I had registered for the course of Warren Robertson, a contemporary of Lee Strasberg at the Actor’s Studio. He came to Montreal once a month to give workshops to already established actors and actresses. I was 37-38 years old, and I listened to him talk about sensory memory and the references that were already all within us; that it was enough to access it and then let the emotion rise without forcing… We have not necessarily experienced what the character experienced, but we have references. This is why life trials are necessary: they fill our bundle of actors. But in short, I understood that instinctively, that had always been my approach. Except Warren pushed me much further.
What is the fundamental difference between the young actress when you started, and the seasoned actress that you have become?
Ambition has waned. And when ambition fades, something deeper and brighter emerges. Ambition is necessary in our profession, of course, but sometimes it becomes the primary motivation. It’s had its day. The more the years pass, the more we tend to live in the present, to live the experience, without wondering how our career will benefit from it. Now I am in detachment and contentment. I have achieved longevity, having been rejected the first time at the Conservatory. When I revisit my artistic journey, I feel grateful.
In another of the book’s exchanges, you suggest: “Perhaps one day, I will decide to put the actress aside completely and keep only the literature.” Do you really think so?
I remain an actress. Jacques, my partner, always brings me back to this when I doubt: it’s true that the actress will always be in me. But the fact remains that it is a demanding profession — extraordinary, but demanding. And it’s possible that one day it won’t have the same appeal for me. As long as people offer me things, and the actress in me says yes, I’ll shoot.
What would you like people to take away from this autobiography?
Maybe a couple of life lessons — I know Samuel learned a few lessons from our discussions. I hope people enjoy discovering why I played a certain character in a particular way. What is the existential journey that nourished these incarnations? You know: behind the scenes. Perhaps also realize that it’s not just the job, but also, and above all, life. That’s why in the book, I talk so much about Jacques and my father, about my childhood as well: all the ingredients that made me become the actress that I am, but also the woman that I am.
Louise Portal will soon be in the credits of the films The day the camel leftby Geneviève Sauvé, and The great void, by Jessy Dupont. His autobiography Louise Portal, love, embody, write arrives in bookstores on September 20. The novel by Samuel Larochelle Elias and Justine was published on September 12.