When he received the role proposal and the script on Productions La Fête letterhead, Antoine Bertrand knew his answer would be “yes”. “Making a production of La Fête […] is something very special,” underlines the actor, who, like a whole generation, grew up listening to Tales for All.
Since September 20, he has been donning the beautiful brown suit (and other less chic clothes) of Philippe, one of the two main characters in Mlle Bottine, a retelling of the feature film Bach et Bottine. “He’s an opera composer who lives a bit of a hermit at home. He is lacking inspiration, but he has an opera to deliver,” describes Antoine Bertrand.
This great social anxiety who acts like “a big, badly licked bear” is the complete opposite of his interpreter. “It’s so far from me! […] It represents a damn great challenge,” enthuses the actor who we have seen in the cinema in Louis Cyr and in Goodbye Happiness, in particular.
On this Wednesday in October, the film crew is installed at the Imperial cinema in Montreal. In the performance hall, the character of Philippe endures the cold recriminations of the opera director (Benoît Gouin), who impatiently awaits the artist’s next work.
There was an opera composer in Bach and Bottine, really? Not exactly. Because there must be no mistake. If Mlle Bottine is inspired by the 1986 Tale for All starring Raymond Legault and Mahée Paiement, “it is not a remake,” insists screenwriter and co-producer Dominic James.
“I think our generation of fans of this classic will be delighted. We recognize the main lines of the story, but, at the same time, we discover a completely new interpretation of it,” he says.
“I’m not sure there would have been any point in retelling the same story,” underlines director Yan Lanouette Turgeon (Rock Paper Scissors).
The late Rock Demers, to whom we owe the creation of Contes pour tous, was of the same opinion, reveals Dominic James. When he took over the reins of Productions La Fête in 2015, he assured the former owner that no remake would be made.
Rock Demers was the first to read Mlle Bottine’s draft of the script.
“I was very nervous. I was afraid he would say no, remembers Dominic James. After the reading, I had dinner with him. He had the document with lots of notes. Seeing the annotated sheets, I thought, “Whew, this isn’t going well.” »
“It’s extraordinary,” were the words spoken by the experienced producer, his successor was moved.
From the moment he joined the project, director Yan Lanouette Turgeon decided to approach the film as something completely new. “It’s been ages since I’ve seen the original. […] My treatment, all my ideas, I wanted to choose them before,” explains the filmmaker.
However, certain elements of André Melançon’s film have been preserved. Like Bach and Bottine, Mlle Bottine tells the story of an uncle who takes his orphan niece under his wing, a role played by Marguerite Laurence.
“Simone is annoying. She wants to discover. She is not afraid of people, compared to her uncle. She loves life,” describes the young actress who we saw in the series 5e Rang, on ICI Télé.
Fans of the era will also be able to recognize certain lines and have fun spotting the many nods made to the original film, notes Dominic James. For those who are wondering, however, no appearance by Mahée Paiement is planned.
And as the title of the feature film suggests, the skunk Bottine will also be present in this new Tale for All, a collection resurrected earlier this year with the release of Coco Ferme.
Why did screenwriter and co-producer Dominic James want to revisit the story of Bach and Bottine?
“In a post-pandemic era where we are in hyperindividualism, where everyone is on their phone, isolated, in their own universe, I found that bringing a theme which is about opening up to others and how that we need from each other to be our best has never been more relevant,” he elaborates.
Mani Soleymanlou, Marilyn Castonguay, Mateo Laurent Meilleurño Daigle, Ellen David, Jean-François Provençal, Louise Turcot, Myriam Fournier and Dino Tavarone complete the cast of this co-production Attraction and Les Productions La Fête, filming of which will continue in the greater region of Montreal until November 9.
