“Periods are ugly, they’re dirty, they’re embarrassing. » Discouraged to see that in 2024 women are still ashamed to talk about their menstruation and its effects – which they do not always understand -, the actress Andréanne Théberge decided to devote a documentary to the subject to bring down taboos.
“There are as many ways to experience your period as there are women. The problem is that it’s still a big taboo. Women are asked to live through them, to suffer in silence, and then no one talks about it,” the documentary filmmaker points out with exasperation.
In interview with The dutya few days before the broadcast of his documentary series PMS. Splendors, sorrows and mysteries of the menstrual cycle, the actress and documentarian was particularly feverish. It must be said that she has been trying to give birth to this project for almost five years, which has suffered several refusals from broadcasters and producers (mainly female producers).
“I was super confident, I was convinced that everyone would like the idea. But I was told that it was not interesting to talk about women’s periods, that we were not going to learn anything new,” she reports.
This is the broadcast, in 2021, of the documentary Loto-Méno, by Véronique Cloutier, on the subject of menopause and its largely unknown effects, which encouraged her not to give up. She ended up knocking on the door of KOTV productions, at the origin of Loto-Ménoand his project was finally accepted.
A very personal story
Just like menopause, menstruation is “poorly documented” and still taboo, notes the documentarian. However, 100% of women will have them in their lives, or 50% of the population. “I noticed that women don’t always know our bodies well. We don’t know what pain or how much blood is normal or not, for example. And above all, we hide, we remain in our suffering and our questions, without saying anything. »
She first. In her twenties, Andréanne Théberge stopped having her periods overnight, without knowing why. At the time, her doctor saw no problem, her friends envied “her luck”. “It’s true that it was less trouble, and it didn’t cost me anything,” she summarizes.
There are as many ways to experience your period as there are women. The problem is that it’s still a big taboo.
Still, a little voice in his head kept telling him that this wasn’t normal. After a decade without a trace of blood, she finally listened to him. At the start of 2020, in the middle of a pandemic and with the luxury of time, she followed a three-month training course to help her reconnect with her menstrual cycle.
Results: Not only did her periods return quickly, but she learned tons of things about her body and periods that she had never heard before. This is where the idea of making a documentary dissecting the menstrual cycle came to fruition.
Lift taboos
In the five episodes, we follow her in her insatiable quest for answers. She meets doctors, nurses, scientists and other experts in the field, shamelessly daring to ask out loud the questions that everyone else is silently asking. She also knocks on the doors of politicians and managers to discuss the measures already in place — and those that should be — to make the lives of young girls and menstruating women easier.
Finally, it leaves a lot of room for women to speak, wanting to hear their stories, their pain and their relationship to their menstruation. She also surveys high school students and seniors to measure the evolution of our society on this subject. Unsurprisingly: “We are not moving forward quickly. »
“I think we could have done 20 episodes. There is so much to say on the subject. It’s also fascinating to see how each woman has a different story to tell about her period. »
Andréanne Théberge makes no secret of it, she hopes that her documentary will arouse the same interest as Loto-Méno. She wants to help young girls and women in this long phase of their lives and hopes to break down too many taboos.
“At the moment, we are aware of the problem. Our generation now has a duty to subsequent generations. We need to talk about it, explain it, educate it. It has to become normal to talk about your period with your friends at school, with your family at dinner or at work with your colleagues. […] I sincerely hope that my documentary will help initiate this change,” she concludes, full of hope.