For his 24th film, “Testament,” Denys Arcand wanted to use the main character of the feature film to highlight the perplexity he feels in the face of the complexity of our time.
This is what the director says in an interview with Sophie Thibault on TVA Nouvelles at 5 p.m.
“He’s a man my age, the hero,” he said. It’s very complicated, everything that happens [dans le monde ces temps-ci]. I tried to convey that in my slightly lost character who says to himself: Where are we? Where are we going? What are we going to do?”
“It’s very complicated to understand,” he continues. We have people who change gender, who no longer know where to turn, people who represent all concerns at the same time. I have the impression that we are actually witnessing the end of Western civilization as we knew it. We are entering a universe that we do not know and that is the confusion. It’s not so much discouraging.”
According to Mr. Arcand, the solution to this feeling lies within each person.
“With all these upheavals, I have the impression that the solution cannot be a collective solution. It’s too complicated and society is too divided, too fragmented. In the midst of all this tumult, finding a space of your own is what ultimately brings a little happiness […] Find a little place where you can be happy.”
The director is not closing the door on “Testament”, which has been in cinemas since October 5th and is not his last film.
“You never know,” he says.
Watch the full interview in the video above