The news fell early Thursday afternoon: victim of a bone marrow disease, actor Michel Côté is retiring from public life. The middle as long as the public is sounded. And for good reason. In addition to his successes on stage and on television, brew at Omerta, Michel Côté was, during the four decades that his career lasted, one of the most popular actors in Quebec cinema. A look back at five notable films.
In the moonlight, by André Forcier, 1983
In his debut on the big screen, Michel Côté immediately struck the imagination in the role of Frank, an albino night owl who, flanked by a former bowling champion, longs for a chimerical El Dorado.
Imbued with poetry and surrealism, In the moonlight is one of André Forcier’s most characteristic — and most beautiful — films. The latter will redirect the actor in his formidable The Wyoming Wind.
Cruising bar, by Robert Menard, 1989
Not everything has aged well in this “big” comedy, but Michel Côté undeniably gives it a acting lesson in four contrasting roles, that is, as many men who scour the bars in search of love or sex.
Impossible not to have a pinch in front of the successive disappointments of the sickly shy Serge; not to laugh contentedly when “the divine” (Louise Marleau, who else?) swings at the pedantic Jean-Jacques that “it can be cured, your illness, soft bite”; not to giggle when hearing the thunderous — and sustained — orgasm of Pauline Lapointe; not to be disturbed (yes, yes) when Gérard, the chronic infidel, understands that he has just lost his wife (played by Véronique Le Flaguais, the actor’s spouse in the city).
The first of several films by the actor to smash the box office.
CRAZY, by Jean-Marc Vallée, 2005
Ten years after the surprise success of the thriller Blacklist, Michel Côté reunited with the late filmmaker Jean-Marc Vallée for what was to become one of the most memorable critical and popular triumphs in the history of Quebec cinema. phenomenon movie, CRAZY offered what remains unquestionably Michel Côté’s most moving score, unforgettable as a father whose conservative values are in contradiction with his sincere love for the fourth of his five sons (Marc-André Grondin), who is gay.
In doing so, Jean-Marc Vallée recounts the Quebec of the 1970s with a perfect blend of nostalgia and sharpness. This, with the technical brilliance that he then perfected in Hollywood. As for Michel Côté, he received for this role the interpretation prize at Iris (then Jutra) and Canadian Screens (then Genie).
From father to cop, by Émile Gaudreault, 2009
With receipts of nearly nine million dollars, this detective comedy full of tasty lines is one of only two Quebec films, with Good cop, bad cop (Érik Canuel, 2006), another detective comedy, to appear in the list of the 10 main box office successes in Quebec, where otherwise only Hollywood blockbusters are enthroned. The star and comedian Louis-José Houde sparkle as a father-son police duo with opposing temperaments.
Piché between heaven and earth, by Sylvain Archambault, 2010
Michel Côté found another outstanding role in the person of Captain Robert Piché, who in 2001 saved the 306 people on board his flight by making a heroic emergency landing. However, for the Quebec pilot, with fame came the discovery of important personal problems, including alcoholism.
Note that during sequences set in the past, it is the son of Michel Côté, actor Maxime Le Flaguais, who plays Piché. The film was the box office champion the year of its release.
In 2013, Michel Côté was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by Québec Cinéma.
With the exception of Amoonlightthe films mentioned are available in VOD on most platforms.
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