OK, let’s go with a lightning review of the new miniseries Pet from Noovo. It is played with finesse. It is written with the necessary nuances. It’s heartbreaking with just enough humorous touches to lower the tension. And, above all, it is hyper confronting.
Posted at 7:15 a.m.
Because the author Simon Boulerice explores the forbidden link that is woven between a fifth-grade teacher, played with mastery by Évelyne Brochu, and her 17-year-old student, camped by an arrogant and vulnerable Lévi Doré.
Pet, which starts on Wednesday, September 14 at 8 p.m., immediately condemns this illegal romantic relationship. No ambiguity there. The first image of the series also shows the arrest of the 37-year-old teacher as well as the interrogation suffered by her young lover. Then, the story – inspired by that of the American Mary Kay Letourneau – goes back two months and exposes, with subtlety and sensitivity, how the two main characters have slowly slipped into this toxic romance.
Pet always evolves in areas of gray, and this is what puts us in a very uncomfortable moral position. Professor Chanelle Chouinard, known as Chouchou (Évelyne Brochu), is not an ugly predator. She lives happy days with her husband Jeff (Steve Laplante), owner of a grocery store, and their two children. Chouchou loves his students, his job and his bike. She even hosts a book club at lunchtime.
The day Sandrick (Lévi Doré) arrives in his French class, a valve opens and the whirlwind takes Chanelle away. This curious, drooling, sensitive and charming teenager disturbs her enormously. But why ?
Obviously, Chanelle does not jump on Sandrick in the first seconds. Their affair begins gently, and sometimes against their will, which is even more devious, in a way. It would be so easy to condemn this abusive woman and take pity on her underage victim. But no, Simon Boulerice evokes the many facets of this complex and debatable affair.
First, Sandrick comes from a broken and disadvantaged home. His inadequate mother Patricia (Sophie Cadieux) lives on welfare and she rots the atmosphere of their dingy accommodation. Raised in violence, Patricia the drunken alcoholic loves her son, but very, very badly.
In Chanelle’s arms, Sandrick finds, in a way, the comfort that his mother did not offer him. For her part, Chanelle reconnects with the feeling of being desired. The two are fixing each other in the worst possible way, we get along. And both suffer from it.
The plot that Simon Boulerice (six degrees) unfolds over eight one-hour episodes makes us feel empathy, yes, for the victim (Sandrick), but also for the one in a position of authority who commits the reprehensible acts (Chanelle).
We do not excuse the behavior of this teacher who loses her footing and rocks, but we understand why she was sucked into this destructive spiral.
Around the main core, Simon Boulerice grafts earthy secondary characters, including Chouchou’s sister, Cindy (Pascale Renaud-Hébert), an unambitious aspiring dog groomer addicted to her vape. Josée Deschênes dons the semi-chic clothes of Sandra Malo, a long-talking former sister-in-law who is vying for a $75,000 inheritance with Patricia, Sandrick’s mother.
Don’t expect huge twists in Pet. It’s a psychological drama that slyly infiltrates our living rooms, with a few comical notes à la Can you hear me ?. If all the novelties reach this caliber, this return to school promises to be very exciting.
Mme Disaster ?
The disaster so dreaded by some fellow columnists did not force the CRTC to disconnect RDI on Friday afternoon. Outgoing Conservative MP for Iberville, Claire Samson, participated in the show Country buffs by Sébastien Bovet without overflowing or shattering output.
Mme Samson was even a good player with her four fellow panelists and concluded the show by causing a big burst of laughter on the set.
In short, the old brown tower did not crumble with the appearance on the air of Claire Samson, who was relevant and more poised than during her Zoom smoky.
The image we had of this ex-caquiste had been shaped, in large part, by the caricatures of Marc Labrèche on the show This year of Tele-Quebec. However, Claire Samson is not a “cuckoo”, unlike other activists who gravitate around the Conservative Party of Quebec. Mme Samson had a brilliant career as a television manager, notably at TVA, TQS and Radio-Canada, before jumping into the political arena.
Moreover, Claire Samson also inaugurated on Monday the first issue of The day (is still young) on the waves of 95.1 FM and, again, nothing inappropriate to report. Even host Jean-Philippe Wauthier seemed surprised by the calm and pragmatism of this 67-year-old politician. If you liked the columnist Louise Cousineau in our pages, tell yourself that Claire Samson, who is one of her great friends, looks a lot like her.