The author and screenwriter India Desjardins and the filmmaker Miryam Bouchard will start filming in the winter of 2022 23 december, a romantic comedy taking the form of a choral film and making a nod to the eponymous song by Beau Dommage.
Camped two days before Christmas when a snowstorm is blowing, the film will tell the crossed destinies of several characters coming from all walks of life and facing different challenges. We will find a hardened bachelor looking for love, a couple worried about seeing their life turned upside down, a singer coming back on stage after a long break, a teenager dragging a secret, a man opposed to the transformation of society and other colorful characters.
“If they all have a personal vision of a magical Christmas, they will discover that the perfect moments may lie in imperfections and the unforeseen”, we read in the press release announcing the start of this production signed Guillaume Lespérance and A Média Films.
Joined by Press, India Desjardins, says he has been working on the screenplay since 2011, when an incident in his family started it all. “Shortly before Christmas, my mother’s husband had a heart attack. They were in Charlevoix and he had to be transferred to another city. All this upset our Christmas in a domino effect and made us live by chance. I saw the film being written before my eyes. “
The author who gave us the series of children’s books and two films around the character Aurélie Laflamme also indicates that she is a great lover of Christmas and the holiday season. Her film, she says, will be a reflection of her affection for this time of year.
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, ARCHIVES THE PRESS
Miryam Bouchard
“I don’t want to reinvent the genre,” says India Desjardins. During the holidays, we want to be happy, to celebrate, to relax. I will take this entirely in the film. I want this bright evening, the fun and relaxing.
If there’s one aspect she wants to explore, it’s the presence of strong female characters in the foreground. “If you look at the Christmas classics, several were made with men as the main characters. If we go to women in the leading roles, it’s often films with the girl who gives up her career to go to a village to bake cookies. Me, I want to write a story close to my values with a modern vision. “
At present, India Desjardins continues to polish its script. Elsewhere, the casting process has started but no names have been released yet. Filming is due to start in February or March. Director Miryam Bouchard is known for the film My circus to me as well as the series Can you hear me ? and The Escape.
What place will Beau Dommage’s song have in the film? “Of course I would like to give him a nice wink,” said India Desjardins. This is my toune Quebec favorite Christmas. This song represents something that is particular to us and specific to our traditions. By making a choral film that takes place over a single day, that went without saying. “
Does she have a favorite Christmas movie? “I love them all,” she replies cheerfully. There are Family Man with Nicolas Cage, Home Alone, Love Actually … My boyfriend (Olivier Bernard, the Pharmachien) and I have a little list and we’ll start looking at them soon.
Distributed by Films Seville, 23 december is due out on November 25, 2022.