Valérie has as much pain as hate in her eyes when she watches her mother Chantal in the series “My Mother”, which deals with the side effects of bipolarity within a family.
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Being the eldest, Valérie (excellent Marilyn Castonguay) ensured the happiness of her brother (Steve Gagnon) and sister (Rachel Graton), with their mother Chantal (notable Chantale Fontaine) often proving more than insufficient.
Chantal could fly off in a balloon for weeks, even months, and when she made an act of presence in front of the house, she would unhinge a trifle, or she would hole up in the basement, filled with deep despair. Valérie took everything, taking care of the others, including her dying father, until her mother slept with her husband Martin (Richard Robitaille), with whom the 58-year-old also committed a big fraud that landed her in prison.
Valérie went into a tailspin after this ultimate betrayal of the one who gave her life. Since then, her everyday life has been “intense and dark,” sums up her interpreter Marilyn Castonguay, who speaks of a golden role due to the many dimensions of her character.
“Valérie is no longer able to cope with professional challenges, dear, she is rejected and she is doing the minimum. What comforts them above all is the consumption.”
In fact, Valérie drinks a lot in the series directed by François Bouvier. She no longer cares for herself, is still angry and has become a gambling addict as money runs out. After losing her job and having her vehicle confiscated, she continues her descent into Hell on Tuesday, her work of self-destruction seemingly having no purpose other than decay.
“She can’t get help because she can’t let go of this anger, she can’t recognize it or accept it.”
The forced cohabitation of Valérie and Chantal made it possible to see that the daughter and the mother have the same temperament. So could Valérie have inherited Chantal’s bipolar disorder, or is it more likely that consumption and depression are making her current behavior worse?
The 38-year-old actress is keeping quiet for fear of depriving viewers of the joy of discovering the sequel. Unlike Chantal, who always believed her extravagances to be related to depression – she was eventually diagnosed with bipolar disorder in prison – Valérie stands alone in her corner and refuses any intervention. Contradictory, she criticizes her mother for not requesting the help she needed to care for her children.
Two days of mourning
Even if “Valerie [l]”Live all the time,” Marilyn Castonguay learned to “protect” from darker characters, especially during her theatrical solo “Girls and Boys,” which was about infanticide. In the case of “My Mother,” the hardest part was saying goodbye to Valérie, as her grief spanned two days, a first in a 12-year career.
“When I played Valerie I was right there in the thick of things, I felt like I was being efficient and useful to her, and the minute filming ended it was like I was leaving her with her problems and nothing can solve more for you.”
Produced and written by Anne Boyer and Michel D’Astous of Duo Productions, the series “My Mother” airs every Tuesday at 8pm on TVA.
Other projects for Marilyn Castonguay
Marilyn Castonguay is set to reprise her now-legendary role as Huguette in the final season of C’est comme ça que je t’aime, which is scheduled to begin filming in 2023. She was in the series Anna et Arnaud this autumn alongside Guylaine Tremblay and Nico Racicot, who can be caught up on TVA+. We’ll also see her in cinemas next year in Frontières, Guy Édoin’s latest work.