When he taught at the National Theater School, Marcel Sabourin gave a course on “nothing pantoute”. That was the actual title of the course. And what did you teach in the “nothing pantoute” course? “Nothing at all! » replies the iconoclastic artist, almost 89 years old. “I was teaching the students to themselves. I taught them to speak their language, to improvise, to be moved within situations that are everyday to them, that are personal to them. »
This anecdote says a lot about this extraordinary character, larger than life, who has had a profound impact on the cultural landscape of the last 60 years. He and his boyfriends (of guys and girls) opened the way to the Quiet Revolution by abandoning the Catholic religion, shaking up the codes of dramatic art and giving the Quebec language its letters of nobility.
For a fan of “nothing pantoute”, Marcel Sabourin led a lot in “tabarnak”, as he would say. The documentary At the end of nothingwhich will be screened at the end of the Rendez-vous Québec Cinéma on Saturday, March 2, pays homage to the “sweet madness” of this national monument.
His eldest son, 59 years old, Jérôme Sabourin, directed this 90-minute film with a poetic tone. This is the first feature film from this experienced director of photography (Midnight, evening, The Lavigueurs, the real story, The countries above, King Dave and many others). The idea for the project came from producer Angélique Richer, says Jérôme Sabourin.
“It’s not a son’s film about his father,” explains the director. It is the portrait of a character, of an artist who advocates a free and spontaneous language. »
Father of “Québécitude”
Actor, screenwriter, director and teacher, Marcel Sabourin paved the way for a generation of artists uninhibited by their “Quebecitude” by writing them songs (or scripts) and teaching them to be themselves.
“I found myself as a person thanks to him,” says Robert Charlebois in the film. Marcel Sabourin wrote the successes for him Egg Generation, Commitment, All spread apart and other titles that clash with the traditional songs of the time.
And how did the spark come that would change Sabourin’s relationship with his language? “It was on my way to France,” he says, seated at the café of the Cinémathèque québécoise. At 19, I went to study in Paris. And then I realize that it’s another world. Necessarily, because of my accent, I will be recognized as a Quebecois, that is to say as a kind of peasant. »
A little later, he had another revelation when he started playing in theater in Montreal. The characters repeated bombastic words, which had nothing to do with the language spoken in everyday life. “It was a radio-Canadian language. There was a reality here, tabarnak, which was never shown. It pissed me off deeply. »
The artificial decor of the theater of the time bothers him just as much. He aspires to scenes more representative of the reality of the world. He lets loose by writing teletheatre in 1971 The kitchens, in which he also plays a role: “At the end, I demolished the whole set, I finished with an ax, almost completely naked, and I said to the camera: “You too, my tabarnak!” And there I died. »
Overthrow the established order
This generation expresses itself with great coronations – a way, undoubtedly, of transcending the innumerable mortal sins it committed in its youth. Mortal sins were like God: everywhere. Young and old of the time were terrified by the prospect of burning in hell. “And hell lasts forever,” recalls Marcel Sabourin.
Blasphemy and masturbation deserved the same punishment. “I was a terrible sinner. It was scary. I went to confession every six months in another parish, at the corner of Beaubien and Saint-Denis, so as not to have the priests of my parish recognize me,” he remembers.
At one point, Marcel Sabourin noted that the Church had been eclipsed by the progress of science. The atomic bomb, men on the Moon, the contraceptive pill and an immense desire for social change overthrew the established order.
“We were like a grain of oak that you put in the ground. One day he will come out of the earth. We have no idea how strong a root can lift the earth. The rest of us, that’s what we did. We had things to say and it had to be said in the sun,” illustrates Sabourin.
Witness to an era
Marcel Sabourin believes in the power of the unconscious. To spontaneity. This is why he advocates automatic writing. For decades, he has carried his old cassette recorder everywhere. He picks up conversations with his friends. He recounts his dreams and ideas when he wakes up. He transcribes everything. His anger and negative thoughts end up crumpled in the trash. His more promising ideas end up in notebooks or on another “idea cassette”.
Its archives bear witness to a profound transformation of Quebec. “It was an exciting time. But for enthusiastic people, all eras are exhilarating,” says Marcel Sabourin.
His muse for over 60 years (they stopped counting the years) and mother of their four sons, Françoise Plessis-Bélair, is never far away either. Discreet, she remains a little in the shadow of her flamboyant husband. “Françoise was an anchor, because I was a bit of a crazy boat. »