It was 11:20 p.m. Sunday night. Casually browsing the Twitter thread on the tablet, a piece of news from the American site Deadline appeared, so incredible that it was thought – hope – that it was a false rumor or a joke in very bad taste, like it sometimes circulates on social networks.
Jean-Marc Vallée is no longer of this world? The fittest of the 58-year-old men? This Jean-Marc there, resplendent with health? Impossible. Although Deadline is a site usually reliable, doubt nevertheless settled during the long minutes during which no other media dared to take up the sad news.
However, we had to face the cruel evidence in the course of the answers we got from the people around him. As suddenly as an unexpected turn too tight that fate takes, 25 years of life and cinema jump out at you in the face.
We admired his films and series, we also adored the man. In all the testimonies collected since this terrible announcement, the words generosity, hypersensitivity and empathy are used to describe the greatness of soul of a being for whom our vocabulary sometimes seems to be too narrow. As if the words weren’t big enough, not strong enough.
At the end of the line, during a moment of silence and emotion, Denis Villeneuve sought – in vain – a formula that could have expressed even better the generosity of the heart that his missing friend has always put forward.
Jean-Marc Vallée was generous with his empathy. It had to be to carry at arm’s length for years a feature film “that nobody wanted” like CRAZY This film, which has aged very well (even 16 years after its release), has nevertheless entered into our collective imagination thanks, precisely, to the empathetic gaze of a filmmaker who has been able to tell a story inspired by that another man (François Boulay), at a time when talking about homosexuality in the cinema was not yet easy. How many young gays have finally been able to identify with Zach and his family? How many father and son reconciliations have been engendered? How many spectators of CRAZY. helped to live better?
PHOTO PROVIDED BY SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES
Jake Gyllenhaal and Jean-Marc Vallée on the set of Demolition
The interior reconstruction of human beings is one of the recurring themes in the work of Jean-Marc Vallée. Of CRAZY at Wild, Passing by Café de Flore and Dallas Buyers Club. It is however thanks to Demolition, probably the most unloved of his feature films, that he approached the question head on. Renowned for the way he directs his actors, in a naturalistic environment, the filmmaker has aroused the admiration of all the big names with whom we have had the opportunity to interact over the years.
” Demolition was no ordinary shoot, Jake Gyllenhaal told us upon release. The atmosphere was much more intimate. You arrive on the set, you go to your dressing room, there is no preparation, no makeup, nothing. If you’re summoned at 6 a.m., you start shooting five minutes later! And you are there. You exist, immediately, with Jean-Marc. It’s just him and us. He can start running on the set looking for a shot, a good angle, a good reflection. When it comes back to you, you are already contaminated by the energy that it puts into its process of creation. The irony is that sometimes I was the one watching him because I found him fascinating. It is often said that a director and an actor dance together, but with him, that’s really it! ”
Nothing fancy, nothing artificial
As journalists, we obviously do not have a relationship with filmmakers of the same nature as an actor or a close collaborator.
However, it was enough to sit down for a few minutes alone with Jean-Marc Vallée to see the sincerity of his words, his interest in the discussion, his very sensitive sensitivity.
When he was talking about Wild, which reminded him of his mother, tears easily came to his eyes. If he could sometimes be a showman remarkable (he had this talent of “working” a 2000 seat hall like the Princess of Wales Theater in Toronto with ease) and an outstanding storyteller (an exciting and memorable brunch-conference at the Rouyn-Noranda Festival two years ago ), there was never anything “fancy” about him, nothing artificial. And journalists were always happy to meet him.
In this regard, I will always remember that press meeting in Los Angeles – it was on the sidelines of the release of Wild – whereas through the American press service, I had not yet been able to obtain the slightest confirmation of a face to face interview with him there. Yet that morning we were taking the same flight to the City of Angels. ” Oh come on ! He told me when he learned that. “Look, there’s a car waiting for me in LA, you ride with me and we’ll have a good 45 minutes to chat.” »The head of the junket when they saw me arrive with their star filmmaker at the hospitality room, I’m not telling you …
But beyond the anecdotes – anyone who has crossed his path keeps precious ones in mind – Jean-Marc Vallée leaves as a trace of his too short passage in this world substantial works, which have succeeded in reaching, each in their own way, the more fragile areas of our soul. Please, Major Tom, take good care of this exceptional being who has just joined you.