” For [le golfeur], the bullet is nothing less than concentrated fate. He will strike her as he approaches life in general, for the occasion condensed there, at her feet, in a white dot”, wrote Louis Godbout, in Golf. Philosophical journey (LIBER), an essay published after obtaining his doctorate in philosophy in 2007.
For someone who is now a screenwriter and filmmaker, the golf course is a perfect replica of society; a microcosm that contains all its failings, values and contradictions, all more or less logical, governed by labels and constraining frameworks. We meet players with many faces, displaying, in front of the target, the pride of the peacock, the confidence of the lion, the deceit of the snake, the intelligence of the fox or the nervousness of the deer.
“It was my grandmother who introduced me [au golf] when I was little, says the filmmaker. Like all golfers, I am inspired by my practice, but I am also a traitor, because golf seems like a kind of perpetual comedy to me. Everyone plays golf — I’ve played with priests, with opera singers — and everyone cheats. If you want to mock human nature, duplicity, hypocrisy and bullshit, it’s the perfect sport. »
The intelligence of the prank
In The cheatershis second feature film, the filmmaker exploits this burlesque side to compose a gritty and ingenious satirical comedy, where the characters are never quite what they claim to be, and where the truth stubbornly walks towards the light.
Hubert (Benoît Gouin) and André (Steve Laplante) are two friends and business partners in the field of care for the elderly. On a beautiful afternoon, they meet for a round of golf with Florence (Christine Beaulieu), the girlfriend of the first, a cross between Paris Hilton and a Zen life coach.
Their session is disrupted by the arrival of Michel (Alexandre Goyette), a charismatic fourth player with an imposing build. This apparently fortuitous interruption will quickly take on the appearance of a settling of scores, Michel’s mother having lost her life in one of the seniors’ residences of the two entrepreneurs. Slowly, tongues are loosened and the veneer of appearances dissipates.
The actors of the film are full of praise for the intelligence of the director and his screenplay. “When I met Louis, I immediately wanted to put myself at the service of his idea, says Christine Beaulieu. His proposal was unlike anything I had ever seen or read. I trusted him completely. Fortunately, because for me, playing the ingenue sexy and assumed, it is very fragile. I feel much more comfortable with my character in Cerebrum, protected by his winter coat. »
Benoît Gouin, for his part, was not to participate in the film, because of a scheduling conflict. “I made the mistake of reading the script. I immediately said: “Stay still, we’ll manage!” There are many layers, both to the story and to the character. The golf course is not just a pretext, it really becomes a metaphor for humanity, with the sand traps, the wind, the elements, the forest which represents the unconscious. It’s funny and deeply intelligent! »
Using a golf course as a closed-door theater has its own set of challenges, although filming in the great outdoors has eased sanitary restrictions. “We shot a game of golf during the whole month of August that takes place in a single afternoon. We were expecting nice stable temperatures. In the end, we had all kinds of weather: storms, hail… The director of photography worked miracles with the coloring, in post-production. We also managed to frame it carefully, avoid bits of sky and erase the shadows, ”says the filmmaker.
Close-up on the failings of society
As in his previous film, Mount Foster (2020), Louis Godbout explores the circumstances in which people transform, revealing what is hidden inside themselves. He masterfully handles tension, plays with appearances and uses the exaggeration and grotesque that farce allows to populate his universe with offbeat and disturbing elements, humorously placing characters and spectators in front of their own contradictions.
While Florence represents certain stereotypes of the femme fatale, the three men each take on different faces of masculinity as it is constructed by society — the macho, proud, powerful and in control; the strong, imposing, violent man; and the weak, unable to seduce, doomed to failure and dishonor.
The more the film advances, the more the masks fall, and the more the archetypes move away from caricature, engaging a reflection on the consequences of this toxic masculinity on society, and on men themselves. The actors, all excellent, play with this perpetual tension to build intriguing and authentic characters, and to embody a form of duality, by making manifest what is underlying and rumbling inside each one.
“It was a real gift to play. My character, for example, is stupid in its own way, but it is also deeply honest, notes Benoît Gouin. #MeToo, the Innu, renewable energies, he doesn’t care. It does not affect him and he assumes it. What moves him is to offer a good end to his old people. And if he can do that with robots and pills, he goes for it, even if it’s questionable. There’s something squeaky, tasty about it, because it’s kind of true. »
The conclusion – of which we will not reveal anything – is surprising and absolutely tasty, at the height of the satirical and philosophical ambition of Louis Godbout. Have !
The film will be released on August 12.