We all think we know the story of Chantale Daigle1, but basically we only know the headlines, say the authors of Désobéir: the choice of Chantale Daigle, a miniseries that promises to reveal the unexpected downside of this woman’s journey, the All fought her way to the Supreme Court in 1989 to assert her abortion rights.
Posted at 7:00 am
In an interview just days before the six-episode biographical drama arrives on Crave, Isabelle Pelletier and Daniel Thibault appear to be zen, even as they know how much their offer is expected. Because since the outbreak of the Chantale Daigle and Jean Guy Tremblay affair, several film projects and series have come up, but none has caught on.
The one we can see on Wednesday, this International Women’s Day, is produced by ALSO (Mégantic, Portrait-Robot) and stars Éléonore Loiselle (L’échappée) and Antoine Pilon (Between two sheet). The first portrays the young pregnant woman from Chibougamau; the second embodies her manipulative and aggressive spouse, who after their separation went to court to prevent her from terminating her pregnancy, even though the act had been decriminalized the previous year.
The screenwriters are surprised that the case, which nonetheless sparked much, much ink, never made it to the big screen. “Mostly because it’s a bad good story,” says Daniel Thibault.
“Because there is a time bomb [bombe à retardement], adds Isabelle Pelletier. It makes it stunning. It’s a marathon, then a last minute sprint. Because the restraining order that Jean-Guy obtains to prevent Chantale from having an abortion does not stop her baby from growing. And as the weeks go by, it gets harder. »
PHOTO HUGO-SEBASTIEN AUBERT, THE PRESS
Authors Daniel Thibault and Isabelle Pelletier
A heart project
In 1989, fresh out of the National School of Humor, Daniel Thibault starred on the Daniel Lemire show. For her part, Isabelle Pelletier worked as a hostess at TQS. Two years later their paths crossed, professionally and privately.
Isabelle Pelletier speaks passionately about Désobéir, which she describes as a “heart project”. “We are parents of four children,” emphasizes the author, touched. Family is a cardinal value for us. I was the same age as her [Chantale Daigle] when I got pregnant with Gabriel, my first. We were very young. I wasn’t sure I could do that… I called to make an appointment because I had a choice. In the end I chose something different than Chantale, but the most important thing is that I had a choice. Hearing this story, witnessing the fall of Roe c. Wading around the United States last summer and watching the rise of masculinism… As a woman, you’re like, “Woa. It’s never over. It’s never over.” What can I do on my scale? I can only tell this story, which is a very good story. A gripping story. »
Disobedient: The choice of Chantale Daigle may have been a “very nice writing experience” over three years, the work was not always easy.
Isabelle Pelletier particularly remembers a particularly grueling 17-hour typing blitz that left her feeling stuck. Exhausted, she had taken courage from a picture of Chantale Daigle that she was holding close.
YAN TURCOTTE, PHOTO SUPPLIED BY CRAVE
Image of Disobeir: the choice of Chantale Daigle
I looked at the picture, I cried and said, “I’ll do this for you!” it was something
Isabelle Pelletier
Isabelle Pelletier admits that she cried a few times during the adventure, especially from the beginning when producers Sophie Lorain and Alexis Durand-Brault presented their project to them, written and directed by Gaëlle D’Ynglemare.
“With our schedule, we weren’t sure we could do the job, but we felt we had to do it. »
After five seasons of Ruptures, the prolific writers wanted to say goodbye to “lawyer shows”, but since they had developed a “certain expertise” in the field of legal sagas, rejecting the offer seemed unthinkable to them.
“We felt responsible,” adds Daniel Thibault. Because it’s a story that deserves to be told. »
The red cable
According to their own statements, Isabelle Pelletier and Daniel Thibault were characterized by great naivety at the beginning of the project.
“We felt that since the story existed, it just needed to be picked up and dramatized. But finding the point of view, the way of telling the events, the guideline, the right thread, that was complicated,” explains Isabelle Pelletier.
“We were looking for it because it was important for us to understand what she was going through, that we show her relationship with Jean-Guy,” says Daniel Thibault. Our first instinct was to tell the events in chronological order: tell the story of domestic violence, then get to the argument over the baby, but that plan took us too long to get to the heart of the matter. It was a story of domestic violence turned legal saga. We had to reverse that. »
“It really came when we were like, ‘Why did you wait so long?’ That’s the key sentence. That was our common thread,” says Isabelle Pelletier.
The duo never got to speak to Chantale Daigle while writing Désobéir. The main participant would have approved the project, but we are told. “We were told that she likes Ruptures,” reveals Daniel Thibault. She trusted us. »
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, ARCHIVE LA PRESSE
Director Alexis Durand-Brault with actors Éléonore Loiselle (Chantale Daigle) and Antoine Pilon (Jean-Guy Tremblay)
A rebellious heroine
When we visited the set of Désobéir last fall, director Alexis Durand-Brault called Chantale Daigle a “superhero.” Isabelle Pelletier prefers the term “unruly heroine”.
“She is a girl with a strong character. She’s super proud and flawed, and I love that about her. She pissed everyone off when we tried to tell her what to do. But she did not go as a warrior. It’s not her. She is not a warrior. She is an ordinary girl who found herself in an extraordinary situation. »
For Isabelle Pelletier, against all odds, Désobéir is not the story of one woman alone; It’s a miniseries that celebrates the community, the strength of the group.
“Without her family, Chantale Daigle would not have been able, like many others, to leave Jean-Guy to get out of the abuse. Her support group made sure she could squeak her camp. And then she supported her family. You always felt supported. It helped her spread her wings. Then, thanks to the activists who raised money, she went to the United States for an abortion. She couldn’t do it any other way. I don’t feel like she could have done it on her own. »
1. Although her first name, Chantal, is spelled in the court documents, Ms. Daigle always spelled it with an “e.”
Disobedience: Chantale Daigle’s pick lands on Crave Wednesday, at a rate of one episode per week.