Even in crisis, general television remains a unifying force in Quebec. Authors Pierre Poirier and Sylvie Lussier are preparing to retire with the satisfaction of having accomplished their duty: the duo has delivered half a dozen successful shows which have reached around a million viewers per week for more than three decades.
That makes a lot of happy people, a career like that. “For 30 years, one hour a week, we did good to a million people. It’s the fun to think about that,” says Sylvie Lussier, met with her co-author (and husband) in a Montreal café in recent days.
The last episode of the soap opera 5e rank will be broadcast Monday March 25 on Radio-Canada. The Lussier-Poirier couple will bow out after having written together well over 1000 episodes of shows which have attracted a large audience since Beasts not stupid anymorein 1989.
If we rely on the past, the duo will be entitled to a wave of love when the credits of 5e rank will scroll on the screen: each time one of their works ended, the couple received an avalanche of gratitude. At the end of 4 and a halfin 2000, after seven years on the air, 4000 faithful wrote to the couple.
Television, in Quebec, is serious. People also take the trouble to write to the authors when they are angry: the duo received “a ton of bricks” after making a pregnant woman drink a glass of port, in 4 and a half. A somewhat caricatured beautician character also earned them a fiery letter from the association of beauty care workers.
A kiss between two gay men, still in the same soap opera, had sparked another wave of excitement – just like a muffin with jar appeared in The Black Dog Inn. The simple first name of a character who lived in Gaspésie — Omer, in 4 and a half — also aroused the anger of a mayor who was outraged that the authors attached this first name to her region, which she considered derogatory.
People become attached to the characters as much as they do to family members. The departure of the colorful character François Dion from 4 and a half, because actor Serge Postigo was no longer available, led to indignant reactions from the public. “I will never listen to you again,” wrote one disappointed devotee. However, the TV series’ ratings were maintained.
Interesting villains
The infinite love of Quebecers for their soap operas has remained the same for 30 years, but Pierre Poirier and Sylvie Lussier have evolved. They let gos “losses” with 5e rank. “In six seasons, there have been so many murders that we stopped counting them! »
The first episode set the tone: an organic pig breeder is found dead, devoured by his animals. The rest is to follow. The once peaceful village of Valmont has become a perpetual crime scene. The themes covered during the six seasons are dizzying: arable land wildly contaminated by organized crime, missing women, hostage taking, serial killer, corpse on a construction site, explosion, love triangle, torture, pimps in a youth center, a psychopath runs rain or shine, a mole is rampant at the SQ, a character is shot in broad daylight…
The duo loves creating complex characters, made of light and shadow. A monster can lie dormant in each of us, believe the two authors.
“We’ve been observing people for a long time,” says Sylvie Lussier. We all have friends who make bad choices all the time. It has always fascinated me to try to understand their motivations. »
Small budgets, big ambitions
These two former veterinarians are convinced that animals have fewer gray areas than humans. “I miss the animals, but I don’t miss the customers,” summarizes Sylvie Lussier.
It is quite a challenge to establish diagnoses on living beings that do not speak. Veterinarians must develop a sixth sense, in addition to a solid academic background, to detect health problems in animals, the authors explain. This ability is an asset for authors in search of characters.
We’ve been observing people for a long time. We all have friends who make bad choices all the time. It has always fascinated me to try to understand their motivations.
Screenwriters really need imagination – and hard work – to succeed in the small Quebec television market, where budgets are notoriously lower than elsewhere. The erosion of revenues in favor of digital platforms adds to the challenge for television artisans.
“That’s why we never became producers,” says Pierre Poirier. You think of a scene where a car catches fire and you say to yourself: “It’s too expensive, we’ll just make sure that smoke comes out of the engine.” »
For 5e rank, the ATV chase scenes — without a helmet — worried the authors, because of the costs of insurance or the use of stuntmen. Luckily, the actors François Papineau and Maxime de Cotret were able to drive an ATV. So much the better for the production budget…
The end of an era
The Lussier-Poirier duo consider themselves lucky to have worked with producers Joanne Forgues and Catherine Faucher, from Productions Casablanca, who did not hesitate to buy a farm to ensure the continuity of the soap opera. The buildings were adapted to become a film set for six years, without being at the mercy of an owner who could have compromised the production.
The couple nevertheless evokes with emotion the end of internal productions at Radio-Canada. The Black Dog Inn was the last soap opera filmed in the studios of the large tower on Boulevard René-Lévesque.
“There was often a sort of contempt in the community, [à l’égard] of the Radio-Canada teams, but we were always amazed by the dedication and commitment of the people who worked internally. We threw the baby out with the bathwater, in my opinion,” says Sylvie Lussier.
“We had the luxury of time. In the private sector, there is an obligation for rapid results,” she adds.
The couple reconnects with this “luxury” of having time for themselves. They settled permanently in their house in Petite-Rivière-Saint-François, on the banks of the river, in Charlevoix. They will go into the woods to see their friends the lynx, the mink, the moose, the hares and the birds. They will spend time with their children, their grandchildren and their friends. Far from the dark villains like the ones they imagined for 5e rank.