The energetic and tireless France Castel plays an alcoholic mother grieving the death of her son in the second season of the spy series Secret secret.
The 79-year-old actress borrows her features from the mother of Émile Darcy (Patrick Labbé), who was killed in the last episode of the first version. Eighteen months have passed and Maggie lives with her daughter-in-law Rachel (Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin) and her granddaughters Azure (Charlotte Bégin) and Marine (Mali Corbeil Gauvreau), whom she watches over and supports Rachel.
Time has passed, but the suffering of the family members remains great, the time of mourning is not over for anyone. In the case of Maggie, who was unable to make peace with her son before his tragic death, the pain subsides even less. Because she had fallen back into the bottle and endangered her granddaughters, Maggie had been removed from her life by Émile.
France Castel on the set of “La belle tour” during the episode celebrating Estrie, her region of origin. Photo Thonycool
The grandmother asks Rachel questions, who knows little about the world of secret services. Rachel explains that Émile died after being hit by a stray bullet during a drill, an answer that clearly doesn’t satisfy Maggie. The latter will dig deeper to find out more, which will put Rachel, the new head of the Canadian Security Services (CSS), in an uncomfortable position.
“Maggie doesn’t understand why her son died and why. She will be obsessed with it. Nobody can give clear answers, but his goal is to put an end to it,” said France Castel.
Connections to his character
According to the actress, Maggie has made up for her alcoholism, a parallel she draws with her own life. She managed to turn around her cocaine use by doing a lot of work on herself.
“There are situations that give you a second chance, but the basic rule is: if you don’t give yourself that chance, you won’t work for it. “Yes, there are people who gave me a second chance, but I also took advantage of that chance,” said the actress, admitting that this role “came a long way.” [la] Search” in this context.
A great autumn
Between filming the series Nuit blanche 2 and STAT as well as the film Habiter la maison by Renée Beaulieu, France Castel takes care of herself in the countryside with her lover.
“I wander from one set to another. I’ll probably calm down in November! I am, as you know, an extremist and I say to myself: as long as we live, let us live! We don’t know what will happen to us. I have lost a lot of people in the last three years, very close people. We don’t know how much time we have left.”
Patience and desire
France Castel says with a laugh that she is becoming less and less patient on set as the days are long and the waits between takes are endless. But she has no plans to retire anytime soon.
“I would rather play a saint than always play a sinner! I would also like to act with actresses my age, I’m thinking of Micheline Lanctôt. I would like there to be a project with mature women who are still active.”
Produced by Duo Productions in collaboration with Quebecor Content and written by François Pagé, the second season of Classé Secret begins on Wednesday, October 18 at 9 p.m. on Addik.