1997 Articles

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=120 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="4ab6fc00.gif" border=0 width="111" height="192" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> 1997 Articles</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>FUGUES  March 1997</B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="29f901e0.jpg" border=0 width="400" height="286" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Part 1 : Interview with director Claude Fournier</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#00FFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT></div> <div> <B>J’en Suis - for better or for worse?</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>It’s difficult to answer this question - the film won’t be released until the 14</B><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#00FFFF" FACE="Verdana" ><B>th</B></FONT><B> March. To find out a little more about this romantic comedy starring two of the most prominent actors in Quebec, Roy Dupuis and Patrick Huard, we met up with the director Claude Fournier. Quite a task with a writer/director who normally doesn’t bother with niceties. However, he claims to have made an exceptionally fine comedy in </B><B>J’en Suis</B><B>.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Gays make good box-office material, especially when the subject is tackled by straights, or when they are aiming at other straights. Their intentions are often commendable, but the results very disappointing. You only have to think about</B><B> Pédale douce</B><B> (Soft Pedal) or </B><B>The Bird Cage</B><B> << US remake of </B><B>La Cage aux Folles</B><B>>> to realise that commercial success is no guarantee of quality. One wonders if </B><B>J’en Suis</B><B> will avoid the many pitfalls which a lot of directors fall into. From the ‘box of tissues’ melodrama about Aids to the farce with the obligatory overdressed drag queen, it’s rare to find a film about gays which doesn’t go over the top. The magic which produces the realism and that special sensitivity can’t avoid being reduced to a stereotype, a caricature. One would wish, hope even, that a Quebecois film would be ranked in the pantheon of great gay films. Will </B><B>J’en Suis</B><B> be on this list? If it were a race very few of us would be putting money on this horse.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>J’en Suis - a little, a lot or …. not at all!</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The idea came to Claude Fournier to take a traditional concept and overturn it. Many gays pose as straights at work; what would happen if a straight acted gay in order to get a job? </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"We wanted to explore by contradiction how a hetero would feel in a gay environment, and that appeared to have amusing posibilities, " adds Claude Fournier. "I think gays will feel at ease with the film because most of the people in it are gay and it’s the heteros that are the fringe elements." </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The idea also offers endless opportunities for misunderstandings, mistakes and plot twists. Roy Dupuis plays the impostor, and his discovery of the gay world disturbs his identity so much that he begins to doubt his real sexual orientation. Warning: there is no conversion because a woman leads him "down the right path" to give the film an acceptable ending.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Toning it down a little</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Claude Fournier sought a lot of expert advice to avoid offending the gay community.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"I decided to have the screenplay read by people I trust - such as Pierre Bourgault who is a very old friend - because even I was subconsciously going to do some pretty stereotypical stuff which I have partly got rid of thanks to the advice I was given. As a result of this sound advice the gays are not as outrageous as in the original screenplay. </B><B>J’en Suis</B><B> has a realism that many gays will recognise."</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The actors </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>But they still had to find actors who were able to give substance to the idea. Claude Fournier is full of praise when he talks about the choice of Roy Dupuis. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"I wanted to take a good looking man and to film him in such a way that he was equally attractive to both men and women. Roy was that person. He wouldn’t be capable of playing an exaggerated gay or of becoming too camp. He is very charming and has an attractive personality. Moreover, in the way he has been filmed he is stunningly handsome on top of what he brings in the way of emotion and temperament. I filmed him as I would a woman, and used the same techniques that I would use with an actress."</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>More surprising is the appearance of Patrick Huard in a cast such as this. But it seems, according to the opinions given to the director, that Patrick Huard - who plays the heterosexual who is most prejudiced against gays - is able to play high camp without giving offence. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"I knew that this would not be too difficult for Patrick Huard, that he wouldn’t overdo it, that he wouldn’t make his character ridiculous."</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>As far as the rest of the cast is concerned Claude Fournier was amazed to find how many gay actors were reluctant when approached to play gays. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"There were more heterosexual candidates on the books ready to play gays than there were gay actors. I found myself in a strange position where all the gay parts were to be played by heteros, and I wanted gay actors in order to set my mind at rest about the authenticity of the acting. I approached Yves Jacques for the role of Victor, and after thinking about it for a while he turned it down because he didn’t want to be identified with a gay role. I ended up with Norman Lévesque who made Victor one of the most engaging characters in the film."</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The decorous homosexuality of our grandfathers</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The title </B><B>J’en Suis</B><B> << literally ‘I’m one of them’>> comes straight out of France in the 70’s. No-one would dare use this expression to declare his homosexuality these days, unless they were really from the back of beyond. This punchy but totally outmoded title was suggested by French director Claude Berri, whose ‘modern’ works include </B><B>Germinal</B><B>, </B><B>Manon des sources</B><B>, and </B><B>Jean de Florette</B><B>! <<highly sarcastic as these are distinctly ‘period pieces’>> Claude Fournier thinks that the title is quite explanatory, although the people of Montreal have been taken by surprise. Perhaps this completely anachronistic, not to mention unfashionable expression will enjoy a revival this side of the Atlantic? I wouldn’t be too sure. This comedy is about the world of antique dealers, cultivated, refined, educated, and very rich. This view of homosexuality dates and reinforces the prejudices (in this case favourable) about gays. Thirty years ago homosexuals were perceived as perverts, as aesthetes, or sometimes as both at the same time (the best in my opinion). Claude Fournier has chosen the second reassuring image for this 90’s update. But has he managed to climb out of the rut that plenty of others have got stuck in, avoiding inflicting on us the usual antics of gays and their lifestyle? The director thinks he has. Will the result live up to his good intentions?</B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Part 2 : Interview with Roy Dupuis</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>He is a star in Quebec. Somewhere between a less fragile James Dean and a more refined Gérard Depardieu, Roy Dupuis returns to our screens in a comedy, </B><B>J’en Suis</B><B>, on the 14</B><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#00FFFF" FACE="Verdana" ><B>th</B></FONT><B> March. Roy plays an unemployed architect ready for a job switch. A job switch and a switch of sexual orientation, for in order to be employed as an antique dealer Roy must be taken for a gay. On the phone from Toronto where he’s currently filming, he gives us some thoughts on this experience.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>What was your reaction when you were offered the part?</B></div> <div> <B>I was immediately interested in the subject of the film and the manner in which it was treated, inspired by European comedies. And also it deals with a section of society which is not shown too often in Quebecois cinema, the world of antique dealers and architects. The subject area is much more modern than </B><B>La Cage aux Folles</B><B>.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Is this the first comedy you’ve done?</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>In the cinema, yes. A long time ago I did a comic play. It was at secondary school and I played the lead in </B><B>The Hypochondriac</B><B> by Molière.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>But not the first time you’ve played a gay part : in </B><B>Sortie 234</B><B> and </B><B>Being at Home with Claude</B><B> your character was officially gay.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>This isn’t the case in </B><B>J’en Suis</B><B>. Compared with </B><B>Being at Home with Claude</B><B> where I was completely immersed in the character, I stay outside the character, a little bit more distant. I developed the feminine side of the character, the yin side. Nothing like what you see in </B><B>La Cage aux Folles</B><B> - I leave that to Patrick Huard. In any case there are all sorts of homosexuals, just as there are all sorts of heterosexuals.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The press in general speak of you as the Quebecois James Dean, and Claude Fournier says that there is no-one in Quebec more popular and desirable than you and Patrick Huard. Is that a hard image to live up to?</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>It’s very nice to be compared with James Dean because he was a great actor, but as for the most desirable or most popular, I’m less happy with that. I try not to let this impact on my private life and at the moment it’s not too difficult. There are times when it bothers me but still it’s very nice. In any case I make my choices in accordance with my conscience, and it has nothing to do with a desire to please the public.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Many gays consider you to be a sex symbol and there are rumours about your own orientation.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The rumours don’t upset me. They started with the release of </B><B>Being at Home with Claude</B><B>. In any case my friends (both male and female) know what I am. As for the image the gays have of me, it’s quite flattering.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Has making films with gay roles changed your view of homosexuals?</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Not really. At drama school I had my eyes opened to the reality of gay life because I mixed with plenty of gays. I come from Abitibi and there are not many there. Afterwards, in order to create my roles, it was more about research into the details. For </B><B>Being at Home with Claude</B><B> I investigated the gay bars and the cruising areas of the mountain to capture the behaviour, the movements, the looks. And of course some of my friends are gay.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>What have you been up to?</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>After travelling for a year on the bike in the USA, Canada and then Italy, I made</B><B> J’en Suis</B><B> and immediately afterwards </B><B>Hemoglobin</B><B>, an American horror film by Ridley Scott which will be released at the same time as </B><B>J’en Suis</B><B>. I’m currently filming an American TV series called </B><B>Nikita</B><B> which is based on the Luc Besson film. </B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B><IMG SRC="2a122da0.jpg" border=0 width="290" height="218" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"><IMG SRC="2a321d90.jpg" border=0 width="289" height="217" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>   </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#9900FF" FACE="Arial" ><B>   <IMG SRC="3a71f1c0.gif" border=0 width="287" height="28" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> <IMG SRC="3a71f1c0.gif" border=0 width="287" height="28" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B> LIving single sept/oct. 1997                                                        </B><A HREF="id35.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Living Single Sept./Oct. 97"><U><B><IMG SRC="1e45b2b0.gif" border=0 width="91" height="43" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>    </B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>