Josée Deschênes is in comedy mode these days. When we spoke to her last Friday, she was on her way to the studio to make final adjustments to her costumes The Little Lifewith filming of the original six new episodes beginning next Sunday.
She is also rehearsing her lines from the comedy Le Père Noël est une junk, a play that will be staged on June 30th at the Maison des arts Desjardins in Drummondville.
But like any actress, the one revealed thanks to her role as “Creton” in the work of Claude Meunier wants to defend different roles. She excelled in dramatic comedy Audrey Returned to Club Illico – she says she is ‘in love’ with Mireille, her character – and is now starring in the daily Indéfendable in an entirely different, much more dramatic register.
SCREENSHOT / QMI AGENCY
She encamps Judge Clara Fortin, who sides with the accused after killing her husband with a bullet while he was fighting an intruder in their home. She claims it was a mistake that she actually aimed at the stranger who attacked her spouse, while police claim it was a premeditated act as there is no evidence of a break-in or struggle. Luckily, she can count on the services of Me André Lapointe (Michel Laperrière) and Me Léo MacDonald (Sébastien Delorme) to defend her.
“My character goes through a descent into hell. I found it interesting playing a respectable woman who suddenly finds herself on the other side. It was a big challenge and he’s also a great 60-year-old character,” said Josée Deschênes in an interview with agency QMI.
The actress, of course, knows the outcome of the process, but she is amused to watch the consequences with her spouse. “He’s asking questions and I can feel him at the end of his chair. I think it’s well brought up as a cause and it’s more complicated than we think,” she added.
SCREENSHOT / QMI AGENCY
The judge risks losing everything if she is found guilty. Her life has already been turned upside down by the death of her husband and her reputation, so even if she is exonerated she will not be as respectable as she was.
The writers of Indefensible have fun leading us down all sorts of paths. Justice Fortin is furious as we get to know her better. She even tells her husband Clément Sirois (Michaël Kelly) to leave her room because she could kill him with a pillow if he doesn’t distance himself. We don’t know what’s wrong between them.
In last Thursday’s episode, we learned, thanks to private eye Claude Gagnon (Nathalie Madore), that the judge’s husband had a secret phone to communicate with his… bastard son Justin. This is a possible alibi that could give the Crown fuel to convict the judge.
Back from The Little Life
Otherwise, the 61-year-old actress is happy to find her La petite vie gang, including Marc Labrèche, who plays her husband on the cult series. They read the six new episodes on Tuesdays and Thursdays and will be filming an episode every Sunday for the next six weeks in preparation for the reveal on next season’s ICI TOU.TV EXTRA.
“The new lyrics are in the spirit of the first ones written by Claude Meunier, in the sense that there are almost no guests. It really happens between us, the family. Personally, I think people liked that.”
The daily newspaper Indéfendable, produced by Pixcom, is broadcast Monday to Thursday at 7pm on TVA. The first season ends on Thursday, April 27th, the second version has been filming since the end of March.