For sure, there is a voyeuristic side to wanting to penetrate the privacy of others, especially if they inhabit the planet of fame. Distressing or earthy details of their intimacy spill over from gossip magazines to invade the entire media space, as a sign of the times. People touch the psyche of stars for want of being able to touch the roots. But how do you grasp the extent of a nervous breakdown? That of comedian Serge Thériault appears so deep. Six years without putting his nose out of his house. He gets better, we are told, while refusing most human contact. What was the trigger for such a withdrawal? Why did this popular comedian fall into a black hole? Are fame and the duty of constant representation such heavy weights that the unconscious may prefer a cave of shadow to the blinding glares of neon lights?
Nothing will be known about this in the documentary Outside Serge outside by Martin Fournier and Pier-Luc Latulippe, who is causing so much talk these days. Because Thériault hardly appears there, an extended furtive silhouette or a timid resumption of the elementary gestures of life. The meeting takes place above all in hollow, through the testimonies of his relatives. Thus his wife, Anna, breathless, his daughter, Melina, more silent, and his downstairs neighbor, Robert, the privileged interlocutor of the prostrate actor. Obviously, the severely depressed prefers the simplicity of this kind-hearted man to the complications of his peers.
The public loves Serge Thériault, the media too; a wave of affection capable of making all the zombies come out of the ground. At least, everyone would like to believe it. Hence the immense interest in this film, on display as of Friday on several screens in Quebec. The unstoppable Moman of The little life, parodic crazy humor, could not have been erased from the decor without arousing a wave of concern. The poignant mechanic of the marvelous Gas bar blues Louis Bélanger either. Nor the Ding with the Dong of his duet with Claude Meunier. Neither the Paul between the Pauls, a trio whose absurd humor already shone in the mid-1970s. Neither one of the popular boys. Long was the road of his people alongside this gentle laughter with a sensitive blue gaze confusing the line of gags. Where has he been hiding since his retirement from the limelight? Coiled in itself like a boa.
I attended the public premiere of Outside Serge outside, crowded with people, at the RIDM, in the presence of the film crew, family and caregivers. The characters, except the absent one, seemed to leave the screen to add on stage new charges of emotion to the human drama, with tears, declarations of love, even laughter.
The two filmmakers, through their documentary Manor, in an end-of-the-world motel on the edge of a highway, had dazzled us in 2016 with the portraits of these different and endearing people, left behind in hospitals, soon evicted from their shaky lair.
This look at Serge Thériault’s seclusion is in line with their testimonies on mental illness, except that here the images, often dark, espousing the claustrophobia of the theme, barely show the elephant in the room: HIM . And a camera does not land on the lives of people around without changing their course. Without this electroshock project, could neighbor Robert have bonded as much to the actor? Along with the family, the directors helped to tightly weave ropes to pull the one who was losing his footing. Just cause, yet the result of pure discomfort, accentuated in the trailer and the beginning of the film. To what extent did Serge Thériault want to present his intimate distress as a spectacle? The idea did not emanate from him, but he will have obviously taken to the game in this moving and disturbing game of hide and seek.
I let myself be fascinated by Jolande, the wife of Robert, a woman stingy with words, who looks at her husband out of the corner of her eye, no doubt wondering if the strings are being pulled by others and if her husband needs capture the radiance of a wounded star to feel alive in turn. All these gray areas … Documentaries capture realities by diverting their course. In front of the camera, everyone adapts their speech or their silences to the scrutinizing eye. During the 1960s, our direct filmmakers were already juggling these equivocal codes with great mastery. A pierced and stolen truth. Still, the poignant accents of helplessness, hope and sorrow resonate in us in Outside Serge outside.
With this film to the glory of natural caregivers so long ignored, we also think of Chloé Sainte-Marie who made support for guardian angels the fight of her life. Because artists are sometimes ambassadors of light, like here.