In children’s films, especially those from Hollywood, when it comes to divorce, we often have to deal with children who try to mend their parents’ relationship, often successfully. This conservative model is fortunately less and less dominant, but it persists. We just have to think about Tea Parent Trap (The parent catcher), original and remake. Knowing this, the Quebec film No chicane in my hut immediately scores points, with its pre-adolescent protagonist who would like nothing better than to see her parents divorce.
Her name is Justine and she can no longer hear her lawyer father and mother quarreling day after day. Taking advantage of a school show, she decides, with the help of her friends, to set up a fake trial by drawing inspiration from the “minutes” of her parents’ stormy marital relationship… A starting situation that intrigued both the director and co-screenwriter Sandrine Brodeur-Desrosiers as its young and talented cast.
“The concept is from Maryse Latendresse, a seasoned screenwriter and novelist”, explains the filmmaker who, after winning the Crystal Bear in Berlin for her short just me and yousigns here his first feature.
“Maryse and I collaborated on a short film [Le truck, prix Tourner à tout prix au festival Regard] and it had clicked between us. And in short, she presented me with five film ideas and it’s this one, which goes a bit the opposite of what we often see in the cinema where, generally, children don’t want their parents to separate, which prevailed. As soon as we started talking about it, the possibilities of scenes followed on their own: it was obvious that we had good material. »
Beautiful, yes, and funny, touching, nuanced…
Communication and listening
Speaking of nuances, Sandrine Brodeur-Desrosiers absolutely wanted to avoid falling into Manichaeism or morality. “It’s not a film that is for or against divorce,” she insists.
In fact, one could even argue that it is almost a pretext, Not of chicane in my cabin which can be seen as the learning story of Justine who gradually realizes that the adult world is more complex than it seems. Thus, her final understanding of the state of the relationship between her parents will turn out to be very different from the initial perception she has of it.
“It’s also very much a film about the importance of communication and listening,” the filmmaker explains in this regard.
Told strictly at child’s level, No chicane in my cabin is never unintentionally condescending or fake in his preteen portrayal. And for good reason: even as they were thinking about their story, the two screenwriters visited primary school classes to interview students on a variety of subjects: divorce, of course, but also their tastes, passions , apprehensions, etc. We also find traces of this process in the film, which contains segments where the young people express themselves on camera as part of the design of their show.
“I discovered a magnificent youth. Really, they and they are in love with the environment, discuss in a very articulate way social causes, sexual identities… It was inspiring”, remembers Sandrine Brodeur-Desrosiers about the exercise.
A tight-knit group
This benevolent gaze and this attitude of complete openness, the young performers confide in having particularly appreciated them. What’s more, a two-week rehearsal period had been planned: the opportunity to dissect the script together, and above all, to get to know each other before filming.
Charlotte St-Martin, who plays Justine and who we discovered in The hungry, by Robin Aubert, explains: “What’s great about these two weeks is that we became friends very quickly. As for the script, I found it very touching because it is aimed as much at children, teenagers, as adults… And then, there is no dull moment when nothing happens: there is always action. »
“The rehearsals helped us to build the characters, to understand the different relationships, notes for her part Simone Laperle, alias Ernestine, the anxious first class. They were fun characters, with distinct energies. What’s also cool about the script is that we have several different people, who weren’t necessarily friends, and who come together to accomplish something together. »
Louka Amadeo Bélanger-Leos, who plays Guillaume, a loud-mouthed student hiding a painful secret, notes for his part: “I liked that each character had a specific problem to solve. This means that there are plenty of other subjects that are integrated: a child who suffers from the absence of his parents or who feels bad in his own home… The film raises awareness in many ways. And for the rehearsals, that’s really where the characters took shape, yes. »
“It was during those two weeks that it became concrete for me, that I said to myself: ‘that’s it, we’re going to make a film,’ adds Charlie Fortier, who lends his features to Claudia, the best friend of Justine. What was good is that by going through the scenes, we could appropriate the lines: we could change them or even add or cut them, in order to make it look like we speak in everyday life. . »
For them and for them
In this case, Sandrine Brodeur-Desrosiers confirms that she is a follower of unpredictability and maintains that certain gems formulated by her young stars during rehearsals were duly included in the final version of the script. But beyond this desire to capture a bit of magic when it happens, there was this overriding concern for authenticity.
A bias also hailed by Liam Patenaude, who plays Theo, Justine’s other best friend: “I’ve already been on other sets where it wasn’t like that at all, where you arrive the morning, you do your scenes, and you have no room to express yourself in relation to a line that would benefit from being changed so that it makes more sense in your head… With Sandrine, we could modify lines, even modify the scenario a little… I found that very cool. »
However, for Sandrine Brodeur-Desrosiers, this approach was self-evident: “This film was for them and for them. So it was normal to listen to them. Especially since, as I was saying earlier, two of the central themes are communication and listening. »
This explaining that, we never have the impression, as is sometimes the case, of being in the presence of young people’s characters imagined by disconnected adults. A statement before which the young cast agrees in chorus, obviously proud – rightly – of the result.
No chicane in my cabin will be released on June 10.