Last Friday, the fourth day of filming The hero’s outfitLéa Pool, met at the SAT with the film crew, said she was happy to be able to shoot two films back to back. “It’s a bit fast, but I won’t complain,” confided the filmmaker. “Usually, you wait four or five years to shoot. We’re just at the beginning of filming, but I find that my eye is very keen on what needs to be done more quickly than normal, because the machine – that’s me – hasn’t stopped.”
In order to be able to devote more time to the actors, Léa Pool called on director of photography Yves Bélanger, a faithful accomplice of the late Jean-Marc Vallée. “Jean-Marc, who was also speedy that Yves found it too slow to light. And it’s true that often, we take a lot of time. Here, what’s great is that Yves is fast. I also wanted to break the very constructed, square and minimalist side ofHotel Silence with something more organic, stuck on the characters. We are in the action through the eyes of the characters with a lot of handheld camera and little lighting.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Playwright and screenwriter Michel Marc Bouchard
The genesis of The hero’s outfit dates back to 2017. Michel Marc Bouchard, who had until then only adapted his plays for the screen, contacted Lyse Lafontaine and François Bouchard of Lyla Films to offer them an original screenplay on a subject close to his heart. However, the playwright was “orphaned by a director”.
“A perfect creative marriage”
“We then spoke to Léa Pool, who loved the proposition,” continues François Tremblay. “It was really extraordinary for us, because it was like the perfect creative marriage. We were the perfect team to do it since the first film that Lyse produced under her own banner was The Orphan Musesby Robert Favreau, based on the play by Michel Marc, and The hero’s outfitthis is the sixth film we made with Léa.
Among these films, we can mention Mom is at the hairdresser And The Passion of Augustinewhich starred Céline Bonnier, who was also in the cast of Orphan Muses. “I like Léa,” says the actress, who plays a civil servant at the Ministry of Immigration. “I also really like Michel Marc, his writing, his intensity. With Léa, it’s calm, it’s quiet, it’s gentle. She’s organized, but at the same time, she seems to give you a lot of space.”
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Céline Bonnier filming a scene from The hero’s outfit
Co-production with Luxembourg obliges, we find alongside Céline Bonnier the Luxembourg actress Sascha Ley. “I did not know the cinema of Léa Pool, but since then, I had the opportunity to see some films, including The Passion of Augustinewhich enchanted me, she said. I was very happy to participate in this film and to meet the whole team. Obviously, it is also a privilege for me to come and shoot in Quebec.
Very flattered by the offer from Lyla Films, Léa Pool saw in this collaboration with the author of The night Laurier Gaudreault woke up the opportunity to get out of her own world. “It’s a great challenge that I was ready to take on, because it’s a lot more complex and fragmented as a dramatic structure,” says the director. “I had the opportunity to collaborate with him for the last two years to bring the story to a cinematic level. It was a great dynamic; he brings a lot to me and I think I bring a lot to him.”
Léa and Michel Marc have a great bond. Between them, there is a lot of respect and great openness. They are not people who fight each other. The project has changed a lot. At the beginning, the tone was lighter.
Lyse Lafontaine, from Lyla Films
Theatre and cinema being two different languages, Michel Marc Bouchard was able to count on Léa Pool when it came to the notion of time. “With Léa, there is something that can be imperative, but with great gentleness, great wisdom,” notes the screenwriter. “It’s not her first film, and it’s not my first barbecue, which means that egos had no business there. The subject touched us a lot, because it is extremely topical and extremely delicate.”
A film about immigration
The hero’s outfit features Saad (Mehdi Meskar) and Reza (Aron Archer) who, after fleeing Morocco and Iran respectively, become friends in a refugee camp in southern Spain. The two arrive in Canada, but Reza is soon threatened with deportation to Iran. With the help of his new friend Laurent (Alexandre Landry), a political attaché, Saad hopes to convince the Minister of Immigration (Sascha Ley) to spare Reza from deportation. Laurent’s good friend, Jeanne (Céline Bonnier) tries to find out who Saad really is.
“Saad is a boy who has spent a lot of time trying to save others,” explains Mehdi Meskar. “When he meets Laurent, he will feel like he is in a relationship where both are going to save each other. Laurent protects Saad, but Saad arouses the suspicion of Jeanne, who wants to protect Laurent. Saad will have to navigate to find his place in Montreal. One of his main quests will be to save his friend Reza, who risks certain death if he is deported. He will do everything to try to save him.”
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Sascha Ley, Céline Bonnier, Mehdi Meskar and Alexandre Landry filming a scene from The hero’s outfit
“It’s a film about freedom, the right and the fundamental good that we have to demand this freedom,” summarizes Alexandre Landry. “The real basis of the film is to realize that on the one hand we are very privileged in Quebec and sometimes we are not even aware of it, and that on the other hand, everywhere in the world, there are refugee camps, crimes against humanity.”
It was while listening to the testimonies of refugees from African countries from the LGBTQ+ community that Michel Marc Bouchard had the idea of writing a film on immigration, a subject that is still under-exploited in Quebec cinema.
“We saw what was happening on Roxham Road, but we looked at it all with a certain distance, whereas here, we are entering their journey. I was also inspired by Fox and his friendsby Fassbinder. He plays a Hungarian immigrant who goes to Germany and gets together with someone richer than him. I really liked this class relationship, but also this attraction to a certain wealth. It makes the hero feel destabilized in his quest, because everything else is comfortable,” concludes Michel Marc Bouchard.
After 15 days in Montreal, 15 more in Luxembourg and a week in Morocco, the filming of The hero’s outfit is scheduled to end on September 21. Produced by Lyla Films (Quebec) and Iris Productions (Luxembourg), distributed by Les Films Opale, The hero’s outfit is expected to hit theaters in fall 2025.