Céline Bonnier is very proud to be watching the new series Sorcières on TVA since the beginning of September. A project she started with two friends. Meeting with the interpreter of Joanne, the journalist with a difficult family past in Sainte-Piété.
• Also read: Céline Bonnier, Noémie O’Farrell and Marie-Joanne Boucher answer our controversial questions
• Also read: Marie-Joanne Boucher did her own stunts in Witches
“Witches, this is our idea. Marie-Joanne Boucher, Noémie O’Farrell and I are friends and have known each other for a while. This is how it all started during a meeting. It was Marie-Joanne who said: “Are the three girls doing something together?” We immediately came together and started throwing ideas at each other.” The three actresses who play the three protagonists, half-sisters who have been each other for 30 years didn’t see each other, so they worked together from 2019. One thing led to another, their project was realized on the first day of filming last spring.
Photo: Eric Myre / TVA Publica
“We said to ourselves that maybe we wanted to do a series of 6, 8 or 10 episodes, but when we came on board with the production house Amalga, we were told, ‘It would be the right time for 26 episodes.’ We said yes Germain Larochelle (one of the writers of the series) joined us. It works really well; All the better because 26 episodes are still expensive,” she adds.
The feminine in the spotlight
Céline explains how the creation of Sorcières took shape. “It happened pretty quickly. I don’t know if it was because we were in the chalet, but the nature aspect interested us. Also the female instinct, because Marie-Joanne, Noémie and I come from three different generations. We asked ourselves questions and told ourselves that our characters could be half-sisters. We worked on the feminine, the strength of unity, the broken and dysfunctional family coming together. The topics are endless and the possibilities numerous. That’s why we started quite early,” explains Céline.
Photo: Eva-Maude TC / ©evamau
A special aspect is added to this fiction. “There was also the “spirituo-magical” aspect, a kind of coincidence that happens, like the wind closing a door while you say something that has to do with the person who walked through the door next . The last time. We wanted to incorporate strange life events into the story to elevate ourselves a little and make sure that sometimes the unconscious comes to the fore.”
A magical team
This is a great success for the three actresses who are friends. For them, it is the first time that the implementation of their ideas has resulted in a TV series that captivates the audience. “It’s great, we’re happy. It’s certain that Myriam Verreault (the director) is the fourth witch! We had a lot of chemistry with her. He is someone who is creative in life and has extraordinary rigor and concentration. She never takes anything for granted, she leads well. She brought her color to the series and it’s so true to what we dreamed of visually. We all talked together about our influences, about what interests us about shows like this. Really, she was the fourth witch, she has drive and she’s brilliant.
About her role as Joanne, the actress adds: “It’s a character that has no seductive power whatsoever. It’s fun, it’s relaxing!” she says with a laugh. Note that we can also follow them on Radio-Canada in Fragments, a fiction also based on the past and reunions. In fact, she plays Marlène Cormier, the lost love of François (James Hyndman), with whom it is not easy for her to meet again by chance.
Photo: Eric MYRE /
Woman of the Theater
Filming on Witches continues this month and Céline will also be playing in the theater. “I’m doing The Crossing of the Century, based on the work of Michel Tremblay. We recently did two shows and will continue in the spring. It’s 10 hours of continuous reading on stage. It’s exhausting, but it was an extraordinary gift to experience. Michel Tremblay was there too, at the Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui. It’s a show that travels from one theater to another, but we only do it once per actress. It is the first time for them to do theater. There are seven or eight who are going to put on ‘The Crossing of the Century.'” That show will only be shown in Montreal cinemas next year, and there seems to be no question that it will be shown in Quebec. Apart from filming “Sorcières”, Céline Bonnier currently has no further filming in sight. “I had a good year with Rome (a seven-and-a-half-hour show of five Shakespeare plays performed at Factory C in the spring). I would say I still worked a lot. “It suits me and besides, I have personal renovations that take a lot of time,” she concludes with a smile.
Follow her on Sorcières, Mondays at 8 p.m. on TVA and on Fragments, Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on Radio-Canada.