When producer Roger Frappier read The biological letters of Brother Marie-Victorin and then those of his pupil and assistant Marcelle Gauvreau, he imagined a film in the epistolary exchange where eroticism rubbed shoulders with science. “But it had to be developed,” he says.
The eminent Quebec producer then approached Lyne Charlebois, with whom he had made Borderline, 15 years ago. “I said yes right away, but I didn’t want to make a biopic, underlines the screenwriter and director. I wanted to do a reflection on love that draws a parallel with what we are experiencing now. »
Therefore Tell me why these things are so beautiful… delves into the past of Brother Marie-Victorin and Marcelle Gauvreau with period images, but through contemporary actors – Roxane and Antoine – who embody them in a film they are making.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Lyne Charlebois and Roger Frappier
“I found Mylène too beautiful, but in the audition, it was unanimous. It was for her,” emphasizes Lyne Charlebois.
“My father is a gardener and my mother is a herbalist, also teaches us Mylène Mackay. They have the Jardins du Grand Portage in Saint-Didace. »
The actress had even already held the role of Marcelle Gauvreau in the film The forgotten flowers, but it was “in a completely different tone” given the unique universe of André Forcier. It was also before the publication of his letters by Éditions du Boréal.
This is where I saw how far they went in their exchanges. It was intimate. He was talking about orgasms, penis sizes and ways of touching… In 1930!
Mylene Mackay
If it is scientifically that the two lovers – the suspense of the film is whether they have acted out – describe how pleasure is orchestrated and felt right down to the epidermis, “there is a sexuality that swarms from within,” argues Mylène MacKay. “In the letters, it is also named that they are in love. It’s incredible ! »
“Everything they don’t do, they share, adds Alexandre Goyette. There is great respect between them. »
A scientific quest
“Brother Marie-Victorin believed in God, but he said that if God put pleasure in the sexual act, it’s probably because it’s good,” emphasizes Roger Frappier.
“As it is part of him, he finds it difficult not to talk about it within his congregation, continues Alexandre Goyette. For him, if God gave us the ability to enjoy, we must enjoy the right way so we must understand the mechanisms of sexuality. »
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Actor Francis Ducharme, filmmaker Lyne Charlebois, actress Mylène Mackay, her playmate Alexandre Goyette and producer Roger Frappier
People misunderstand Marie-Victorin apart from the fact that he published Laurentian flora, underlines the actor. “A nationalist, he wanted people to understand the land they live on. »
“He was avant-garde in several respects. In the scene we were shooting this morning, he speaks in favor of the marriage of priests. »
Two couples in parallel
Tell me why these things are so beautiful… is not, however, a period fresco, but a “film within a film” which multiplies the back and forth between what the actors play and what they live in private.
While Marcelle did not marry by choice, because she wanted to stay with brother Marie-Victorin, the actress that Mylène Mackay plays more than 80 years later has a completely different character that is not contained. “Roxane is emancipated, unfiltered and liberated,” she says.
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PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
The shooting took place in the square Saint-Louis on Wednesday.
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PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Lyne Charlebois in action
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PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Lyne Charlebois with her film crew
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As for Antoine, he has multiplied adulteries, he has stopped drinking and he wants to get back on the right track. “He really feels something for Roxane. »
End of filming in Cuba
On Wednesday, Lyne Charlebois took the last shots of the film in Quebec before three last days of filming in Cuba (where brother Marie-Victorin observed prostitutes).
Francis Ducharme and Alexandre Goyette had shot in the morning on Mount Royal while Mylène MacKay completed in the afternoon in the Saint-Louis square a scene where she will leave in a mailbox, in the middle of a storm, words written to Brother Marie- Victorin.
“If that film isn’t good, it’s going to be beautiful,” jokes Lyne Charlebois, who has also filmed in the Mingan Islands, Oka and the Eastern Townships.
She assures that all the members of her team – let us quote the director of photography André Dufour – are now more alert to the nature and vegetation that surrounds them, whether in their alley or in the middle of the forest.
“The script made me think of tree of lifeespecially since nature is a character by reflecting feelings,” emphasizes Mylène Mackay.
“I miss love letters,” she says. The film makes us reflect on the way in which we consume our relationships today. »
“And on what we have the right or no longer the right to say,” adds Lyne Charlebois.
Tell me why these things are so beautiful… will be in theaters in the fall of 2023.