You will remember me | Like a bridge between generations

This film adaptation of François Archambault’s play begins a bit like The Decline of the American Empire. We see a historian, also played by Rémy Girard, telling the political and social situation of Quebec with confidence, in complete control, without omitting anything of his subject.

Marc-Andre Lussier
The Press

The big difference is that this scholar, unlike that of the famous film by Denys Arcand, is no longer in the prime of life. His memory is now failing. And anarchic.

“He couldn’t tell you about his day yesterday, or even that of today”, indeed explains his wife (France Castel) to a television team installed in the living room of their home for an interview. The Alzheimer’s disease from which the protagonist suffers is however only one of the aspects of the story of you will remember me. In his screenplay, which he wrote with the participation of the playwright for the dialogues, Éric Tessier (5150 rue des Ormes and Major Junior At the movie theater ; Runaway on TV) casts a wider net. It first addresses, on an intimate level, a family history that has remained underground for years, but also evokes, on a collective level, the relationship that our society maintains with its own memory.

Édouard (Rémy Girard) will first be confronted with his wife, who can’t take it anymore and is thinking of leaving him, then with his daughter Isabelle (Julie Le Breton), but, above all, with the young daughter of Isabelle’s spouse. , Berenice (Karelle Tremblay). A bit out of desperation, this somewhat rebellious millennial was “recruited” by her father (David Boutin) to accompany Édouard, who we now have to constantly watch over. How will these two completely opposite beings, from different eras and backgrounds, be understood, animated by the heavy prejudices they harbor towards their respective generations?

Of increased relevance

There lies the trick of a story where the desire to establish bridges between seemingly irreconcilable visions is manifest. Even though the writing and shooting of the film took place long before the world stopped (you will remember me should have taken the poster on March 20, 2020), it remains that the subject is today of increased relevance, while during the pandemic, the generational divide has widened further.

This kind of story resting essentially on the quality of the performers, Éric Tessier has brought together an excellent cast, dominated by a great performance – yet another – by Rémy Girard. The actor manages to evoke the inner turmoil of a being well aware of his inevitable decline, who clings to a past that is sometimes still too real, whose gaze can nevertheless be emptied of all recent memory in an instant.

Borrowing a classic approach, putting himself entirely at the service of the story and the characters, Éric Tessier has also been able to avoid all pathos and does not underline anything in broad strokes. His film only becomes more moving.

Drama

you will remember me

Eric Tessier

With Rémy Girard, Karelle Tremblay, France Castel

1 h 46 Indoors

7/10