Who is the author of Ru? | The Press

Who is the author of a film? When the filmmaker is both director and screenwriter, there is no doubt. But when the film is the adaptation of the work of a famous novelist by an experienced screenwriter, an adaptation to which an inspired director added several dialogues, it is less clear.

The screenwriter Jacques Davidts (Polytechnic, The parents, Guys) has been working for years on the adaptation of Ru by Kim Thúy. Producer André Dupuy (Confessions, Piché: between heaven and earth) acquired the rights to adapt the novel while he was a customer of Kim Thúy’s restaurant – which was about to close. This was before the book enjoyed the success we know: some 850,000 copies sold in around forty countries.

A dozen years ago, Dupuy suggested to Jacques Davidts, who had not yet read the novel, to adapt this story which was said to be “unadaptable”. He quickly agreed. He met Kim Thúy several times, he ate at her place, they fraternized.

Davidts purchased several copies of Rutore out the pages to put them together in chronological order on a wall, and he wrote his screenplay.

Several filmmakers, including Jean-Marc Vallée, Philippe Falardeau and Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette, were contacted, but ultimately it was Charles-Olivier Michaud (Snow and Ashes, Anna, Boomerang) that we have been entrusted with the production of this anticipated film, which opens on Friday. At the suggestion of Jacques Davidts…

We can understand, in these circumstances, that the screenwriter was stung by noting that there was little or no mention of him in the media coverage surrounding the release of Ru. Which may have given the impression that Charles-Olivier Michaud was the main author of the film. “Seeing someone else appropriate my work seems like a blatant lack of respect,” he wrote a few days ago on Facebook.

“I don’t want to make it a battle of egos,” explains Jacques Davidts, who wanted to reframe things in an interview. But I had been on the project for six years when Charles-Olivier arrived. He directed the film and helped with the script. Can we ensure that I am not completely evacuated? I find it hurtful, not just for me, but for all the writers. »

Several screenwriters, and not the least of them, have supported Davidts on Facebook in recent days, recalling that screenwriters are too often “forgotten” in the promotion of Quebec films. We talk more readily about directors than screenwriters in the media and we often favor (mea culpa) the expression “a film by” over “a film directed by”, even when the filmmaker has not signed the script.

“Everyone understands, me first and foremost, that a film belongs to its director,” recognizes Jacques Davidts. I’m writing a recipe book. Afterwards, you can decide to add a little more eggs, butter, flour, or not to add cinnamon. I’ve been doing this job long enough to understand that it’s normal, because cinema remains a group effort. »

What Davidts struggles with is feeling like he’s left out of the equation. “Charles-Olivier put the film together, and I have no problem with that,” he repeats. But he didn’t write the film. He made the adaptation. What he modeled and changed, with everything that happens when we come into contact with reality, is something else and that’s normal. »

The case of Ru is particular in the sense that when filming was to begin in Asia in spring 2020, the pandemic prevented any travel. Several scenes had to be rewritten, refocusing the story around the exoticism that Quebec represents in winter for this Vietnamese refugee family. An idea from Charles-Olivier Michaud, who was responsible for the modifications.

Michaud, who is not on social networks, was surprised to learn of Jacques Davidts’ angry reaction on Facebook. “I accept it, but I am sorry about it,” said the director, reached this week in Chicoutimi in full promotion of the film. We celebrate Ru because it’s the job of lots of people. Finally, Ru, it’s not me, it’s not Jacques nor André Dupuy, who has been part of the project since its genesis and even before! »

The director denies having appropriated the work of the screenwriter. He says that Jacques Davidts often told him that he was looking for a director who would enrich the project with his own vision.

Jacques Davidts admits that he himself wanted not to be part of the film’s promotional campaign. He is currently writing a series in development for Radio-Canada on the relationship with death (and in particular medical assistance in dying).

I point out to him that some could, on the eve of the release of Ru, accuse him of trying to torpedo the film. “I don’t want to torpedo the film!” he insists. I’m happy with the film. It’s a good popular film. I think people will like it and that’s what I want. But we are too small a market for institutions to accept the hegemony of directors at the expense of screenwriters. »

It is difficult to deny this paradox in the public financing of our cinema. Granting agencies scrutinize the work of screenwriters, who generally have to submit several versions of their script. SODEC and Telefilm Canada then grant funds on the basis of this scenario (while cinema, to paraphrase Denis Villeneuve, is what is in the spaces between the paragraphs).

Once the production has obtained financing, the director can more or less modify the script as he wishes. “The screenplay can ultimately take a turn for the worse and the screenwriter be completely abandoned. It perplexes me,” summarizes Jacques Davidts, who hopes that different organizations, including those that defend the rights of screenwriters, will look into this issue.

I understand. He is right to denounce this injustice. I also understand Kim Thúy to be disappointed by the turn of events, at the very moment when Ru takes the poster. “It’s really a shame,” she said. In my heart, it was an extraordinary experience with Jacques. I’m sad because I talk about Jacques so often that his ears must be ringing! »

One thing we can agree on is that without the author Kim Thúy, there would be no Ru.

Ru hits theaters Friday.