Even though it is often said that friendship and work do not go well together, Magalie Lépine-Blondeau was never afraid of jeopardizing her relationship with her best friend, director Monia Chokri, by letting herself be directed by her. during the filming of the film Simple like Sylvain. On the contrary, the actress saw it as an opportunity to take their friendship even further.
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“I know Monia had certain fears [par rapport au fait de travailler ensemble] but me, not at all! » says Magalie Lépine-Blondeau, in an interview with Newspaper.
“I rather thought it could be an enriching experience for both of us. I find that our brains are communicating vessels and I have absolute confidence in it. There was a communication happening between us that was way beyond words. »
“A lot of times during filming she would say, ‘Cut,’ and she would come up to me and I would say, ‘I know what you’re going to say to me.’ We didn’t need to exchange that much. There was a form of symbiosis between us. It was very rich but very healthy too. »
In Simple like Sylvainthe third feature film by Monia Chokri (after My brother’s wife And Baby sitter), Magalie Lépine-Blondeau slips into the skin of Sophia, a philosophy professor at the university of the elderly who has been living as a couple for 10 years with Xavier (Francis-William Rhéaume).
Sophia and Xavier have a busy social life, but haven’t had sex for years. Her daily life will be turned upside down by her meeting Sylvain (Pierre-Yves Cardinal), a construction contractor from the Laurentians with whom she immediately falls in love, even though they come from very different backgrounds.
For Magalie Lépine-Blondeau, Simple like Sylvain talks about communication and incommunicability.
“In the film, the couple becomes a kind of metaphor that we could apply to many other things in our society,” she observes. The film questions how we can find each other, love and respect each other when we have different origins, genders and social backgrounds. In this case, it happens in a context of intimacy, within a couple. But it could very well apply to all societies. »
Photo provided by Immina Films
Intimate scenes
The fact of having already established a relationship of trust with Monia Chokri also allowed Magalie Lépine-Blondeau to completely abandon herself during the filming of the film’s intimate scenes.
“Monia is also an actress basically, so I really liked the way she approached these scenes,” confides the actress. Together, we thought a lot about how we wanted to see and film intimacy, from a female point of view. »
“Sexuality is an extremely powerful mode of communication and even an obsession for human beings, but I find that we rarely treat this subject in all its complexity. In Simple like Sylvain, all the intimate scenes were extremely well written, like dialogues. They are part of the evolution of the story and the characters. »
MARIO BEAUREGARD/AGENCE QMI
In addition to Simple like Sylvainwhich hit theaters on Friday, we will be able to see Magalie Lépine-Blondeau on the small screen this fall in the series The night Laurier Gaudreault woke up (broadcast on Télé-Québec) and in the third season of the comedy Without an appointmentwhich will land on ICI TOU.TV Extra in November.
On the other hand, she has no other filming planned for the coming months.
“I was lucky, I had a very successful year last year,” she admits. But this, strangely, is the first time in a long time that I have nothing planned in the short or long term. This will allow me to properly support the release of the film and leave all the doors open for my next projects. »
Simple like Sylvain took to the stage on Friday.