Le Divan du Monde: Canada's other Francophones
Cinéfranco's opening night film pays homage to French-speaking citizens beyond 'la belle province'
By Jen Roberton
Issue date: 3/18/10 Section: Film & Music
The 13th annual Cinéfranco, a film festival specializing in the best of recent French cinema, starts March 26 at the AMC. This year's opening film is Le Divan du Monde (Everybody's Couch), a film that was written, directed and edited by Toronto resident Dominic Desjardins. It is the first time in twenty five years that a Canadian non-Québécois film has headlined the festival. Fitting, as the film is essentially about being a part of the French minority in Anglophone Canada. In the film, Zoé (Mélanie Leblanc) has just broken up with her English speaking boyfriend and is hitchhiking back home to PEI from Vancouver. She has little money, and so she plans to depend on the kindness of strangers, most of whom are fellow Francophones. Alex (Antoine Gratton) is the first person to let her sleep on his couch. He ends up heading East with her, under the pretence of keeping her safe.
After the screening was over, I had the chance to speak to Dominic Desjardins. The esteemed writer-director told me that this film had represented a first for Acadian actress Mélanie Leblanc : never before had she been asked to play a role with her native accent. Acadian patois is a distinct mix of French and English which uses both interchangeably within its sentences. For example, Zoé at one point tells Alex: "Tu smile tout le temps". The film plays a lot with such idiosyncratic elements of French-Canadian language, and explores the difficulty experienced by individuals outside the French community who try to connect to those within. In the letter Zoé writes for her Anglophone boyfriend before leaving him, she spitefully says that this is the last time he'll ever have to translate something of hers.
Alex has similar problems. He has been single for the past two years. After finding out that Zoé's boyfriend was an Anglophone, he says that they are single because they couldn't possibly be with an Anglophone who didn't watch the same French cartoons as them. Zoé replies that she saw most of the cartoons Alex has listed in English. In a moment of frustration, Zoé yells at Alex in English to stop following her. It seems to be her language of choice when angry, perhaps because she had grown accustomed to using it when yelling at her boyfriend. The blend of both French and English is uniquely Canadian. It is also a phenomenon seen more often outside of Québec, as the rest of Canada does not have the same sort of French protection laws.
Le Divan du Monde is certain to hold charm for French speakers living outside of Québec, who number just over a million. Although the characters cross the entire country, Québec City is the only landmark visited in 'la belle provence'. In that city, the traveling pair meet a Québécois artist, who despite Alex's suspicions does not sleep with Zoé. The fact that the Québécois guy doesn't get the girl demonstrates that the film is not preoccupied with depicting solely the French-speaking people of Québec. Yet in the end, nobody in the film gets the girl. It is a romantic comedy with virtually no romance. The French community is more important than any other relationship. Alex and Zoé depend mostly upon the help of fellow francophone friends or family members to let them spend the night, or even give them a ride.
At one point, the duo hitches a ride into Québec, with a sign that reads "We speak French". Desjardins told me that the solidarity and assistance of the French community translated into the making of the film. The project began while he was touring with Francoforce, a group of French musicians who performed across Canada. Antoine Gratton and Mélanie Leblanc were both a part of this tour; indeed Desjardins wrote the part of Alex, a character who displays great interest in music, specifically with Antoine in mind. Antoine also wrote the film's score, showing the ways that an actor can be invested in a movie beyond their character role while still having fun with it.
As Desjardins described, filming on location across the country was very difficult. He rounded up many French speaking volunteers in order to form a film crew. The French minority in supposedly 'non-Francophone' Canada has a uniting sense of community, and this ultimately was what brought Le Divan du Monde together.
The fact that this French film festival is currently held in Toronto, a city widely considered to be entirely Anglophone, makes Le Divan du Monde the perfect opener. Those of us who speak French and are not Québécois have a distinct identity that should be spoken about. Still, Québec-made films, as well as some made in Europe, greatly outnumber the Francophone projects made in other parts of Canada. This is natural, as the majority of French Canadians do live in 'la belle province'. However, films like Le Divan which come from elsewhere offer a refreshing change, and may make Canada's French minorities feel a bit less like a 'big fish in a small aquarium'.
After the screening was over, I had the chance to speak to Dominic Desjardins. The esteemed writer-director told me that this film had represented a first for Acadian actress Mélanie Leblanc : never before had she been asked to play a role with her native accent. Acadian patois is a distinct mix of French and English which uses both interchangeably within its sentences. For example, Zoé at one point tells Alex: "Tu smile tout le temps". The film plays a lot with such idiosyncratic elements of French-Canadian language, and explores the difficulty experienced by individuals outside the French community who try to connect to those within. In the letter Zoé writes for her Anglophone boyfriend before leaving him, she spitefully says that this is the last time he'll ever have to translate something of hers.
Alex has similar problems. He has been single for the past two years. After finding out that Zoé's boyfriend was an Anglophone, he says that they are single because they couldn't possibly be with an Anglophone who didn't watch the same French cartoons as them. Zoé replies that she saw most of the cartoons Alex has listed in English. In a moment of frustration, Zoé yells at Alex in English to stop following her. It seems to be her language of choice when angry, perhaps because she had grown accustomed to using it when yelling at her boyfriend. The blend of both French and English is uniquely Canadian. It is also a phenomenon seen more often outside of Québec, as the rest of Canada does not have the same sort of French protection laws.
Le Divan du Monde is certain to hold charm for French speakers living outside of Québec, who number just over a million. Although the characters cross the entire country, Québec City is the only landmark visited in 'la belle provence'. In that city, the traveling pair meet a Québécois artist, who despite Alex's suspicions does not sleep with Zoé. The fact that the Québécois guy doesn't get the girl demonstrates that the film is not preoccupied with depicting solely the French-speaking people of Québec. Yet in the end, nobody in the film gets the girl. It is a romantic comedy with virtually no romance. The French community is more important than any other relationship. Alex and Zoé depend mostly upon the help of fellow francophone friends or family members to let them spend the night, or even give them a ride.
At one point, the duo hitches a ride into Québec, with a sign that reads "We speak French". Desjardins told me that the solidarity and assistance of the French community translated into the making of the film. The project began while he was touring with Francoforce, a group of French musicians who performed across Canada. Antoine Gratton and Mélanie Leblanc were both a part of this tour; indeed Desjardins wrote the part of Alex, a character who displays great interest in music, specifically with Antoine in mind. Antoine also wrote the film's score, showing the ways that an actor can be invested in a movie beyond their character role while still having fun with it.
As Desjardins described, filming on location across the country was very difficult. He rounded up many French speaking volunteers in order to form a film crew. The French minority in supposedly 'non-Francophone' Canada has a uniting sense of community, and this ultimately was what brought Le Divan du Monde together.
The fact that this French film festival is currently held in Toronto, a city widely considered to be entirely Anglophone, makes Le Divan du Monde the perfect opener. Those of us who speak French and are not Québécois have a distinct identity that should be spoken about. Still, Québec-made films, as well as some made in Europe, greatly outnumber the Francophone projects made in other parts of Canada. This is natural, as the majority of French Canadians do live in 'la belle province'. However, films like Le Divan which come from elsewhere offer a refreshing change, and may make Canada's French minorities feel a bit less like a 'big fish in a small aquarium'.
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