” Sync is freely inspired by the relationship I have with Arnaud, which has lasted for 10 years now,” Maxime Lamontagne explains straight away. The screenwriter, behind Between two sheets in particular, says he has had a new outlook on life since meeting his friend. “It’s really a kind of friendship that people around me aren’t used to seeing and that should be normalized,” he adds. The reason? Arnaud has an intellectual disability.
“I wanted to tell the story of a relationship between a person with an intellectual disability and a neurotypical person in an uninhibited way,” emphasizes Maxime Lamontagne. In fact, the web series gives visibility to a friendship that is too little considered in fiction. “We would like the viewer to say to themselves “why not me!” and take a first step in that direction, to move towards a relationship with those who have an intellectual disability,” he says.
If the public is not really used to seeing these protagonists “not like the others” – we remember Gabrielle by Louise Archambault, by Rain Man by Barry Levinson or Gilbert Grape by Lasse Hallström, but otherwise… — depicted on screen, the screenwriter wants to go further by going beyond the stakes of this condition. Sync “is not about Zach’s Down syndrome, but about his new friendship with Oli,” he says. Like us, Oli lets go of his apprehensions to place himself on an equal footing with Zach. Goodbye to clichés and stereotypes about difference.
“We had such a great time with Gabriel,” the screenwriter rejoices. Gabriel de Villers-Matte plays Zach, a character who is just like him since Maxime Lamontagne has, once again, based fiction on reality. “We met Gabriel quite early in the project and asked him what Zach might ultimately be like,” he explains. And he continues: “I found a way to include Gabriel in the script, among other things through improvisation.” Gabriel, like Zach, practices karate at a high level, for example. A definite talent for biting lines, too.
According to Maxime Lamontagne, improvisation allows us to highlight the young actor’s “radiant personality and disarming sense of humor,” rather than trying to write sentences that might sound false coming from his mouth. “Gabriel expresses himself in his own way and I think that helps to make intellectual disabilities less complex,” he says.
For her part, the director of SyncÉdith Jorisch, praises a fiction that is all the more authentic. “What I found great about working with Maxime is that he was aware of all the challenges of filming, and improvisation helped us all,” she recalls. Despite the time constraints of the web series, the team offered Gabriel de Villers-Matte and Étienne Galloy (High demolition, The red bracelets), who plays Oli, to improvise from one take to the next. “It always resulted in great stuff…” notes the filmmaker, who is also internationally renowned for her documentaries, such as The heir.
Cover the tracks
“In terms of structure, I don’t hide it, I wanted to embrace the codes of romantic comedy a little,” Maxime Lamontagne then mentions. While viewers have the impression of witnessing love at first sight between two of the characters in Sync From the very first images, the screenwriter blurs the lines to tell us about another relationship, that of Zach and Oli. “The two characters learn to tame each other and there are pitfalls, of course,” he points out.
“Maxime wanted to do something funny and I embarked on the series by taking up the codes of romantic comedy,” adds Édith Jorisch. A comedy of friendship, in a way. “It’s not exactly where you expect them to be, but there are breakups,” warns the one who took mischievous pleasure in playing with these registers. But in the end, friendship, like love, always triumphs.
To celebrate friendship, what better idea than a big party? “That’s where the fiction really gets going,” notes Maxime Lamontagne, an electronic music enthusiast. To do this, he imagined a DJ, Oli, who, paralyzed by his performance anxiety, has difficulty creating new music… “Zach will support Oli by encouraging him not to worry too much and to let himself go,” relates the screenwriter. Together, the duo nourishes their friendship and flourishes to the rhythm of a shared passion for electro.
Electronic music, with its often contemplative side, allows Oli to return to the present moment, then to embrace a touch of nonchalance. “In Syncin fact, the music is an echo of the friendship between Zach and Oli that is at the heart of the project,” concludes Maxime Lamontagne. Let the party begin!