Sophie Desmarais has always had a particular preference for roles that require extensive research and preparation. With the film Happy Dayswhich marks her reunion with director Chloé Robichaud, the 37-year-old actress was well served.
Sophie Desmarais spent two years preparing for her interpretation of Emma, the main character of Happy Days, a young aspiring conductor who has a toxic relationship with her father and agent (played by Sylvain Marcel).
During this time, the actress was able to benefit from the valuable advice of maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who participated in the project as artistic and musical advisor, but also from some of her collaborators, including conductors Nicolas Ellis and Kensho Watanabe. In particular, they taught him the technique and gestures of a conductor.
“Such roles don’t come along very often in your life, unless your name is Cate Blanchett!” explains Sophie Desmarais in an interview with the Journal.
“In Quebec you rarely have the opportunity to do this kind of preparatory work for a job. The preparation was really crucial, stressful and upsetting at the same time. It wasn’t easy to empathize with this character, knowing that it was a real orchestra [Orchestre Métropolitain] who stars in the film.
“In order to be credible conducting the music in front of these musicians, I really had to work exceptionally well to trust myself to overcome imposter syndrome.”
Sophie Desmarais is well aware that all of her gestures will be scrutinized by musicians and other classical music experts and says she is “obsessed with the accuracy of this figure.”
“Technically, I had to do the right things. Since the film is 25 minutes long, technically I had to do the right things. I wanted to pay homage to this profession by portraying it with a lot of light.”
Homecoming
“Happy Days” also enabled Sophie Desmarais to reconnect with director Chloé Robichaud, who had already directed her first feature film “Sarah Prefers the Race” around ten years earlier. In an interview, the filmmaker emphasizes that she already had this reunion with Sophie Desmarais in mind when she started writing the script for the film.
“I wanted to work with her again,” says Chloé Robichaud. I knew I needed an actress like her who doesn’t need words to express herself. Sophie, you only have to point a camera at her to see the emotions on the screen. It was necessary for this role because a chef can speak on a podium only with his gestures and his gaze. I also knew Sophie had the right level of commitment and passion for the role.”
Chloé Robichaud admits she didn’t know much about the world of classical music before she started writing “Happy Days.” One day when he saw a conductor on stage in front of her musicians, the idea for a film came to him.
“It’s a picture that I liked,” says the 35-year-old filmmaker. In my films I like to show women in positions that we might be less used to. This was the case with “Sarah Prefers Racing,” but also with “Country,” which was about women entering politics.
When Chloé Robichaud then set about writing Happy Days, she said she “fell in love with the world of classical music” by discovering a much more modern environment than she thought.
“With people like Yannick [Nézet-Séguin], there really is something that is being democratized. “I wanted to show a more contemporary side of this universe,” emphasizes the filmmaker, who also did enormous preparatory work to ensure that she portrayed this environment as believably as possible.
Chloé Robichaud makes no secret of it: the main character of her film is, in a sense, her alter ego. Even though it is a work of fiction, she says that she shaped the character of Emma through her personal concerns, such as the relationship with the professional and the position of women in her environment.
“It is often said that a director is like an orchestra conductor,” she explains. So it was very easy for me to imagine being a chef. And it allowed me to talk about my own relationship with creation through this character.”
“Happy Days” will have its grand premiere in Montreal on October 16th at Place des Arts and will be shown across Quebec on October 20th.