Impossible to resist the chatter and vivacity of the newbie comedy MP The candidatea bubble of happiness that bursts in an ocean of hyper-heavy drama series.
Autumn TV, let’s not be afraid of words, is bathed in the brutal violence of street gangs, the grayness of murky police cases and a host of sordid murders to be solved. A little lightness, tinged with intelligence, is really good, really.
Signed by the brilliant Isabelle Langlois (Let go), The candidate comes out Thursday on Extra de Tou.tv, with broadcast planned during the winter on traditional television. The ten one-hour episodes are coming at once, on the Radio-Canada paid platform, and I will refrain – with all hands – from not viewing them in one weekend, so as not to burn out the good stock too quickly.
This political comedy is not at all airtight – forget Bunker, the circus – reveals the immense talent of its main actress, Catherine Chabot (Hotel, Lines of flight), who offers a stunning performance in the tight, low-cut clothes of Alix Mongeau, a single mother and nail technician “29 and three quarters of years old” living on the South Shore.
Certainly, Catherine Chabot will be among the finalists for best comic role at the next Gémeaux awards gala. She is furiously funny and endearing.
Back to Alix Mongeau, our verbose heroine who loves flashy jewelry, bouffant hair and flashy makeup. She reconnects with an old high school friend, the handsome MP Benjamin Claveau (Olivier Gervais-Courchesne), who offers her the opportunity to become a leading candidate for his party, the PPDQ, the equivalent of Québec solidaire, in the next elections.
There are no women on the posters and Alix Mongeau would run in the riding of Dufferin, where MP Claude Fortin (Hugo Dubé) of the PAQ – the equivalent of the CAQ – has reigned for two terms. No chance of Alix winning.
But as in the true story of Ruth Ellen Brosseau of the NDP, who served as inspiration for The candidate, Alix Mongeau wins her elections, collective surprise! while she gets drunk in New York on the evening of her 30e birthday.
For ten episodes, The candidate shows, with humor and insight, how an ordinary citizen, with no political experience, enters the Quebec parliamentary system, full of obstacles, traps and canny journalists.
Not having a filter, Alix Mongeau even declared that the riding of Dufferin, where she is running for office, “is not the place where fun goes to die.” Obviously, Alix ends up in a show similar to Infomanwho loves this type of blunders.
The character of a struggling single mother often turns into a cliché on Quebec television. Not in The candidate. In appearance, Alix looks like a common, overly tanned girl, with heavily painted eyes, a smile on the edge of her very red lips. Screenwriter Isabelle Langlois, however, shatters these stereotypes by putting forward a young woman who is resourceful, lively, hardworking, cunning, frank and super friendly, with a heart that beats in the right place.
No, Alix doesn’t speak English, let alone Spanish like her hairdresser best friend (Noé Lira), but she can whip up dinner for her family with $5. No, Alix did not attend the biggest universities, but she finished her fifth year of high school, having three jobs, while taking care of her baby. She is a fighter, whom we adopt at the first smile.
PHOTO BERTRAND CALMEAU, PROVIDED BY RADIO-CANADA
Catherine Chabot
Of course, social networks and trash radio hosts will call Alix a BS, a plow, a Bougon, a slut, a dirty plotter, in short, a quiet little Tuesday on the X network, whatever.
In the second episode, Alix Mongeau visits Dufferin for the first time since her election and she meets a bunch of strange characters who will seek her urgent help. Dufferin does not exist and looks like a mix between Granby and Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu. So, no, it’s not a backwater.
To accelerate her political learning, Alix is paired with experienced MP Salima (Ines Talbi), a multilingual lawyer who has two master’s degrees, in addition to being whip of the official opposition. Collision of two diametrically opposed worlds, which causes hilarious flames.
The candidate revisits the classic concept of “fish out of its bowl” brilliantly.
Alix, who lives in unheatable housing, knows nothing about the political world and will fall into the trap of a young parliamentary courier (Alex Godbout), the very day of her incredible swearing-in.
On the other hand, Alix learns quickly. Very quickly. And she has instinct, especially when it comes to hiring a competent and not corrupt political attaché.
Around Alix gravitate her pre-teen daughter (Lily-Rose Loyer), her ex-partner (Patrick Emmanuel Abellard), who is not an asshole, and her rich in-laws, who hesitate to invest in her project of nail bar “in a rotten premises, located on a pocket street”.
Predicting the outcome of a real election is almost a science. But predict, in anticipation, that The candidate will charm you, it’s much simpler than finding a new leader in the Liberal Party of Quebec.