In one of the wings of a detention center, Louise Denoncourt runs an experimental program aimed at curbing the risk of recidivism among prisoners convicted of murder. The bane of a prison system attached to its punitive methods, Louise is certainly idealistic, but she is also pragmatic, and the results she obtains speak for themselves. Arrives among his group of prisoners Marc Saint-Germain, a hitman who is perhaps responsible for the death of Louise’s mother. Will the principle of transformation of the individual that the latter defends apply? As for Marc, is his participation in the program sincere, or opportunistic? In Melting iceChristine Beaulieu and Lothaire Bluteau engage in an intense psychological battle.
The film is directed by François Péloquin, who co-wrote it with Sarah Lévesque: we owe it to the tandem The sound of the treesa beautiful film from 2015.
“Sarah is me, we are like anthropologists: we document ourselves thoroughly,” explains François Péloquin. We even went to take criminology classes. In fact, the very first flash At the origin of the film, it was when we discovered this phenomenon where certain young correctional officers, shortly after the end of their studies, enter the prison system, and fall in love with inmates thinking of changing them — 22 years old, and fall in love with guys who are really not nice…”
There followed a deep reflection among the co-writers.
“Personally, I don’t believe we can change others. As one character says: “We can’t change the world”. I believe in change, but it has to come from within yourself. It is everyone’s responsibility to change, to evolve, to grow, to heal. It’s an individual responsibility, but outstretched hands and a kind look help: I think a more benevolent prison system can produce good results. We can improve the world”, nuance the director.
Words that Christine Beaulieu echoes when she talks about this famous fictitious program, which consists in particular of having inmates train in canoes on ice: working in unison and collaboration are questions of survival.
“François and Sarah completely invented this program, but I find that there is logic in it,” notes the actress. Why don’t we offer our criminals something else? We have this problem in our society: we have violent men, we have feminicides, it’s a problem, and men can obviously be violent towards other men… What do we do about that? ? We must take care of the victims, it is essential. But if we don’t take care of our people, as a society, we won’t solve the problem. I agree with my character, Louise, when she says that she believes in transformation more than rehabilitation. I believe in it deeply, from experience. I went through a psychological process that transformed me: for eight years, I saw a psychologist once a week, and it changed me, as a person, as a creator. I could never have written I like Hydro without this path. So I tell myself that if it worked on me, why wouldn’t it work on someone else, on a criminal? »
In fact, upon reading the script, the actress understood that these were “her kind of films”. “Despite the subject, it is full of candor and beauty. And then, it’s positive,” she summarizes.
Christine Beaulieu admits to having also appreciated the response of the protagonist, who does not allow herself to be imposed on by anyone. “He’s an obstinate character: I like that. The challenge for me was to position myself in relation to my gang of guys: to be sufficiently assertive to have credibility in front of them, because Louise wants to win them over to her ideas, but at the same time, I didn’t want she’s stupid. Especially not. She had to have an openness, a candor, like I really am. »
A sociothriller
By its message and its context, Melting ice is a social drama. However, due to its face-to-face against a backdrop of possible violence, of possible revenge, it is also a slow-burn psychological thriller.
“I wanted to find a way to reach out to the public,” agrees François Péloquin when faced with this description. That is to say, making a social film, but one that the public will have a good time watching. We borrow from the codes of the thriller in order to increase the pleasure. »
This “pleasure” is further increased by a Lothaire Bluteau who is both disturbing and on edge. His Marc is an unpredictable assassin with motivations as opaque as the black waters that lie beneath the ice.
“You know, in a supporting role like that, where it’s not me who run THE show, my job is to bring the necessary colors. When reading the script, I ask myself questions like: “Are these colors that I have already played?”, “Am I tired of playing them?”… With this script- there and this character, these were new colors. And that’s tempting in criss. Afterwards, I wondered if Marc was lying, or if he was telling the truth. I didn’t know it, and I didn’t want the public to know it either. Then I really started to like it. Is Marc manipulating Louise to shorten her prison sentence? It’s interesting to play, this ambiguity. And then… a liar, he has to believe himself. »
To pursue the star of Jesus of Montreal on the subject of the shell of his character which begins to crack during the story: “He’s a guy who has never had friends, but as he embarks on a game manipulation with this program, for the first time in his life, he has friends. Me, I’m a loner in life, so that, this temperament of loner, I understood it. When I arrive on set, it’s to work, not to make friends, but sometimes I make them… And in short, Marc, he gets caught, he gets caught up in his game and gets boyfriends. I, who am used to playing solitaires, used to being on the edge of the frame — Gannets, Black Dresseven Jesus : it gave me even more of a taste. »
Heroine in Evolution
We will have understood, despite the initial inspiration, there is no sentimental intrigue in Melting ice.
“We tried it, in the initial versions, but it was like a distraction,” reveals François Péloquin. It wasn’t the movie. Louise has evolved a lot over the iterations. But one day, we decided to throw everything away and create a strong heroine, who tells it like it is. And there, Christine Beaulieu stood out, because she is a woman like that in real life. »
Speaking of real life, for the actress, the release of the film is both sad and happy. Indeed, while her character is driven in her quest by the death of her mother, Christine Beaulieu confides that she has just lost hers.
“It’s strange, because now, suddenly, with my mother gone, it seems like I understand Louise’s quest even better. You know, in the film, there is this passage where Louise is crying, hidden in the toilet, and where we see bits of film and photos of her mother? It was my idea: I made the suggestion to François and Sarah and they liked it… These are images of my mother, which we see. »
Candor, beauty… Christine Beaulieu not only knew how to perceive these qualities, she enhanced them.
The film Melting ice hits the stage on March 22