It was the tone that first attracted Suzanne Clément to the script forElsewhere if I’m there. She sees the film by Belgian François Pirot as a little gem, à la Woody Allen. “There’s no cynicism, it’s more of a bittersweet comedy. There is a lot of tenderness too, he makes fun of his characters, but not maliciously. »
In Elsewhere if I’m there, Suzanne Clément plays Catherine, a woman whose husband Mathieu (Jérémie Rénier) has given up everything to go live… in the forest. A gesture that will make everyone around him move, but “sometimes, moving is better than standing still” believes the actress. “I recognize myself in that, making big choices! Catherine has bad ones, but she has to move, she can’t take it anymore. »
Catherine drops layers as the film progresses. Until she too finds herself in the forest imitating the sounds of the jungle animals.
“She ends up laughing at herself and her great desires… I remember that morning when we filmed, three years ago. »
My father had just died. I should have laughed, but I just wanted to bawl! But it doesn’t matter, you have to go with that, laughter and tears, it’s often close.
Suzanne Clement
It was her aging parents who brought Suzanne Clément back to Quebec – her father died three years ago, her mother, who suffered from Alzheimer’s, last year. “It’s almost a gift they gave me. I needed to set foot here again. »
Speed
Driven by the success of Xavier Dolan’s films, Laurence Anyways Then Mommy, the actress had in fact settled on the other side of the Atlantic, which allowed her to play in numerous French productions. “These are career opportunities that don’t come around often. But I worked very hard too! » says the 54-year-old actress during a colorful interview, full of life and joyful outbursts of voice.
Suzanne Clément spent a dozen years in Europe, especially in Paris, a teeming and effervescent period that she loved. “I was pampered, I enjoyed it to the fullest, it was magnificent. Not just as an external experience, but also an internal one. » Yet we get the impression, listening to her, that she never felt completely at home there.
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
Suzanne Clement
Have you ever experienced this? It’s special that there is an ocean between your roots and where you live. Absolutely everything is different. All you miss is everything you know. Even the air is not the same.
Suzanne Clement
And the accent of course, which she changed all the time, “even at the grocery store,” to be ready for filming. “It became second nature when I was filming, but it became more fragile when I spoke with Quebecers. »
We imagine that biting into the coronations of Doctor Emmanuelle St-Cyr, whom she embodies in STAT, must make her particularly happy. She imitates a body running out of breath, including sound. “Ah yes… it’s fun! It’s really cool to find a character who moves quickly, rapid in execution, in delivery. With the Quebec accent, wow! »
If the character goes quickly, so does the actress. Play STAT is, for its main performer, a real marathon. Filming for the second season, which is currently underway, will end at the end of March. But it is the first part, which goes from July to December, which is the most intense. “The portion before Christmas is long, with only one week’s break. We start to get on each other’s nerves at the end! Everything can become complicated if we want…”
This year, she left immediately after… for Disney, with her 18-year-old niece. “She saw me on my phone all the time, she said let it go! ” She laughs. “She’s 18 and told me to drop out! It was perfect, Disney, so as not to worry. We were just amazed, we screamed, ate, walked like crazy! »
With the phenomenal amount of text she has to memorize, we understand Suzanne Clément wanting to clear her mind. The actress shoots four days out of five; the rest of the time, she learns her texts, on weekends and even often in the evening after work. This is why she hired a tutor, a “tremendous person” with communicative energy.
Energy
The actress has signed for a third season of STAT, but she wondered a lot beforehand. If she said yes, it is among other things because she noticed that it is possible to slip other shoots through. “I still have four months off. » She also toured in two productions in the summer of 2023, which have not yet been released, and is awaiting confirmation for one or two other projects which would take place during the summer.
“I also filmed in a Canadian-American project during the weekends in the fall. I don’t know how I did it! But my brain found strategies and it worked. »
If she decided to continue, it is also because the character of Emmanuelle is interesting to portray.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Suzanne Clément and Lou-Pascal Tremblay on the set of STAT.
Emmanuelle has great strengths, but also flaws. Places that the author Marie-Andrée Labbé and I discovered and which are fun to investigate.
Suzanne Clement
When we see her in the show getting on a stretcher to give a cardiac massage, we can’t help but think that Suzanne Clément has infused her character with energy. “I think Marie-Andrée watches us go and loves us. She is very open to actors and it’s intelligent. » For the posture of Doctor St-Cyr, the actress took a lot of inspiration from a doctor she observed, from her proximity to patients, from the way in which she spoke to them.
The daily challenge – “It’s sure a thrill!” » –, which she would never have envisaged in almost 30 years of career, stimulates her to the highest degree.
“Sometimes it’s OK, we do three more scenes, let’s go!” I like it better than certain shoots where we spend two hours setting up lighting… I also like being in different data, other paradigms. »
For the future, she does not plan. “There are things I want to do, we’ll see. » A fourth season of STAT ? ” No idea. » As for predictions, does she believe her friend Xavier Dolan when he says he won’t make any more films?
“I haven’t seen him since he said that.” I wouldn’t be able to make a choice like that. He would have the right, but it seems to me that it cannot be done. »
Indoors