Is the cinema screen the mirror of the soul of the filmmakers, or of the spectators? Undoubtedly a little of both, and that is why the films reveal as much about the values, torments and passions of artisans as about those of the society from which they emerge. As part of the summer series In Therapy: Quebec Cinema, The Devoir gives the opportunity to eight psychologists to lend themselves to the game of the therapeutic session, with a local film of their choice for the patient. For this last meeting, Augustine’s Passion (2015), by Léa Pool, a page of history all in music on the Quebec of the 1960s crossed by a great breath of social transformation.
At the time of its release, Marie Vien, the screenwriter of Augustine’s Passion, summarized in our pages the main themes of this film which was to be a great commercial success. “I wanted to show this convent as a microcosm, affected by both the Quiet Revolution and Vatican II. The convents of nuns closed one after another, while the bishops went to Quebec to save their schools for boys. Moreover, it is said that the transition was harmonious, but Quebec was experiencing the peak of its baby boom while the Church suffered a growing number of disaffections from its members: it could no longer cope with the task. That, we don’t talk about much…”
The word “passion” evokes both a time of suffering — especially in the Catholic imagination! — and a powerful affective state. Sister Augustine (Céline Bonnier) experienced all of this at the same time at the end of the 1960s. She moved heaven and earth, in addition to alerting the media!, to keep her convent dedicated to music open, and she would do everything to protect his niece Alice (Lysandre Ménard), a talented pianist but a rebellious teenager. She will also have to face the never veiled contempt of her superior (Marie Tifo) taking umbrage at her fierce determination.
In the midst of this austere and repressive atmosphere, a group of women who were asked to obey will stand up and thus defy the authorities, supported by students also carried by the wind of change that is sweeping Quebec at that time. . This historic dive, highlighted by the director of Anne Trister (1986), take awayme (1999) and Mom is at the hairdresser (2008), is commented by Rose-Marie Charest, psychologist, lecturer and former president of the Order of Psychologists of Quebec.
How did you feel when you first saw the film?
It made something very intimate vibrate: born in 1951, I knew this kind of boarding school, and I studied the piano, even if my school in Gaspésie was not as closed and as strict as the one I we see in the film. Augustine’s Passion not only marked me, but made me happy.
Why ?
Firstly because it symbolizes the birth of freedom: that of a woman and that of an entire people. In 1960, in Quebec, there were not many people who did not adhere to religion… at least on the surface. The film shows that institutions are strong, but social movements can be even stronger. Moreover, for anyone who doesn’t know what the Quiet Revolution means in Quebec, we show him this film… and he understands!
Then it celebrates beauty, and we all need that. Taking the time to watch or hear something beautiful is vital. And you shouldn’t wait to be happy to expose yourself to it. We tend to close ourselves off when we are unhappy, it is a protective factor. But by taking shelter, we take shelter from beautiful things…
One of the dominant themes in Augustine’s Passion, it is that of the transmission. When you think about it, you immediately see that from parent to child. I’ve always had a passion for education, and I’ve always believed in the importance of promoting it, because you can’t ask everything from the family. We already have huge demands and expectations of parents, but a human being cannot just be the influence of two people. To be free, you need more choice, and more models.
Through the character of Alice unfold all the doubts and all the sufferings of adolescence. In some ways, isn’t she similar to today’s teenagers?
Adolescence represents the search for an ideal, young people look among the ideals that surround them, and at the time of the film, religion was much more present. So they look for it among the things they know. It’s not an easy age, because when you’re young, you’re afraid of making bad choices. It must be said that religion allows you to know what is good and what is bad, but you do not cultivate your free will, just enormous guilt. True freedom is exercised within a framework, and within Augustine’s Passion, a scene illustrates it perfectly, when Alice begins to “jazz” Bach by provocation. Augustine reminds her that she will be able to do it when she has studied Bach rigorously. In summary, what she’s saying is: do your scales, know the standards, and within that, you’re going to exercise your freedom.
One of the great scenes of the film, particularly moving, remains that of change of nuns’ costume. We feel a deep vertigo before modernity.
Freedom and change are scary! What they experience is freedom in stages: they take off one costume to wear another. But for many people, whether in the military, air force, police or religion, costume is an integral part of identity. We were talking about adolescence earlier: at this age, the search for identity is very distressing, young people constantly repeating the same question, namely “Who am I?” “Behind a uniform, the question is settled… or almost. At least in the eyes of others.
You have been a clinical psychologist for 40 years. Was cinema part of your practice, and would you have recommended Augustine’s Passion to your patients?
It didn’t happen very often. As it concerns Augustine’s Passion, I would use it to address the fear of freedom, and fear of change, even if the film ends before seeing the result of a very big decision. Because at the time, leaving religion was huge, just like the idea of becoming a woman entrepreneur in the 1960s. Deep down, Sister Augustine said to herself: what I like to do, I will do and against all.
More generally, psychotherapy comes down to one thing: helping people choose. Each person has their story and they must understand their uniqueness. It is possible to reach the day when everyone accepts and builds their history as their own, and does not judge it bad because it does not resemble that of others. After seeing so many patients after so many years, and knowing them from the inside, psychotherapy made me realize that no two people are alike. Even with the same diagnosis.
Augustine’s Passionby Léa Pool, is available on Illico, Crave, Tou.tv and Netflix.