After having been a great success on Club illico, the series “Portrait-robot” takes the air this Thursday on TVA, plunging viewers into a police universe combining suspense and psychological drama around the judicial portrait painter Ève Garance, who is able to recognize faces and guess secrets hidden by people.
It is the actress Rachel Graton who carries this woman, both strong and fragile. Eve is bipolar and her life turned into a nightmare five years ago following her son’s disappearance.
PHOTO COURTESY, ALSO Productions
The young woman works in the Investigations Unit, a team parallel to the police dedicated to unresolved cases. In the damp and old-fashioned basement where the unit is installed, she rubs shoulders with the director Maryse Ferron (Sophie Lorain), the old trucker with expeditious methods Bernard “Molosse” Dupin (Rémi Girard) and the crime scene technician Anthony “Anto” Kamal (Adrien Belugou).
The team has of course investigations to solve and we will even be interested in the disappearance of the son of Eve over the episodes.
“There is a nice mix of genres in ‘Portrait-robot’: a comic strip, thriller and psychological suspense side. There are many things that you can afford when you are in a universe like this, it is sure that it is very fertile, ”said Rachel Graton in an interview with the QMI Agency.
The actress empathizes with her character, which was created by author André Gulluni and worn by director Alexis Durand-Brault. “Eve is very fragile because of the disappearance of her child. I haven’t been through it, but I have a little boy … I can project myself into his drama, even if I don’t have the taste and I don’t know how we can continue after an event like that one.”
PHOTO COURTESY, ALSO Productions
Although she is bipolar, the character of Eve is more than that, and that is what pleases her interpreter.
“Her bipolarity is part of her, but that’s not what fully defines her. But we can give Eve a certain strength of character, which is linked to her bipolar disorder, such as her hypersensitivity. Also, the kind of degree of concentration that can be found in a period of mania, which will serve him in his profession. “
Rachel Graton herself had to sit in front of a forensic portrait painter as a victim. It also inspired her for her play “La nuit du 4 au 5”, winner of the Marcel-Dubé Prize, on which she works with the aim of making a hybrid recording which will be presented on March 5 on Télé-Québec. .
There is a sadness that emanates from Eve, but also a great humanity when she welcomes the victims and dives into their heads.
“Eve is a focused, hyper sensitive girl who hears blinks. For me, the gaze was very important: when she connects with someone or something, it had to be super precise. It’s really with a scalpel, the movements are economical, the eyes, the gaze, it’s like a track dog, that’s what I worked, ”said Rachel.
Can’t wait to shoot the second season
Evolving alongside Sophie Lorain (who also produces the series with her box ALSO Productions) and Rémy Girard remains a privilege for Rachel Graton even if, herself, she has a very enviable career with participations in series such as “Help de Béatrice ”,“ Les Simones ”,“ Faits divers ”and, more recently,“ Sans rendez-vous ”and“ Un lien familial ”.
“I can’t wait to get back to filming on ‘Portrait-robot’. I can’t wait to put Eve’s hoodie back on, to have my hair cut like her. I’m even going to listen to the first season again with the audience so that it will be fresh in my memory when I start filming season 2. ”
The “Portrait-robot” series is presented every Thursday at 9 p.m. on TVA.