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It has been part of our cultural landscape for almost four decades.
In the 1990s, Pascale Bussières even occupied the same muse role in Quebec cinema as the legendary Luce Guilbeault 20 years earlier. Filmmakers of all generations wanted to film it, often more than once. Micheline Lanctôt, who revealed it, in the front row. Then Jacques Leduc, Patricia Rozema, Charles Binamé, Guy Maddin, Jean Beaudin, Denis Villeneuve, Léa Pool, Manon Briand to name a few. Without forgetting all the others that followed afterwards.
Pascale Bussières, one of the few Quebec actresses to boast a rich filmography of more than 50 feature films (and not least!), doesn’t quite see things that way, however. Measuring the likelihood of often being invited by filmmakers to join their world, she may not find the path as smooth and composed as her impressive resume suggests.
“Plan B is never far away! She reveals everyone is smiling. My journey was riddled with many questions. All those who practice this profession in Quebec will inevitably face downturns.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Pascale Bussieres
When I work I am very happy. I can then take a certain direction and feel like a sailboat sailing against the wind and tide.
Pascale Bussières
“Fallow times are harder because they force us to question ourselves. This obligation to always be in each other’s desires becomes very disturbing, but I calmed down about it anyway! »
Keep going for a long time
With the help of maturity, the actress now has no qualms about opening up fully and surrendering to a character. She believes that in this regard she has nothing to lose and everything to gain.
“As we get older, we’re always more or less warned that work is becoming less frequent because we’ve moved beyond that great period of beginning adult life, where all the big stories happen. Fortunately, many other things happen later that don’t make life boring. And then there are now more women directors, screenwriters, producers, and I think there are more and more interesting roles for actresses over 50. Micheline [Lanctôt] don’t stop working. It still gives hope to be able to make a long career. »
In Frontières, filmmaker Guy Édoin wrote for her to play a strong woman weakened by the memories haunting her nearly 200-year-old family home. Surrounded by Christine Beaulieu, Marilyn Castonguay and Micheline Lanctôt, Pascale Bussières reconnects with the director of Marécages and Ville-Marie by slipping into the shoes of an intense character, to say the least.
“It is a great joy to know that we can inhabit the mind of a filmmaker writing a film, especially as this scenario immediately appealed to me, showing someone who still harbors the dream of one day making his own feature film. In this character of Diane, I see a variation on the character I played in the other two films that were made with Guy. »
PHOTO PROVIDED BY SPHERE FILMS
Micheline Lanctôt, Pascale Bussières, Christine Beaulieu and Marilyn Castonguay in Frontières, a film written and directed by Guy Édoin.
Since this woman lives on earth, there is a very direct relationship in this story to life, to death, to flesh, to animal, to the body. Finding yourself in a genre film – a kind of psychological thriller – brings other parameters with it. It was really fun going there with him.
Pascale Bussières
A woman of the country
Pascale Bussières says of Guy Édoin that he writes exceptionally for women. She also likes his ability to film reality, adding a kind of tragic layer that transcends it. She also likes his unique way of elevating the subject in a truly cinematic way.
“And then there are these themes that he digs up, always with this interesting relationship to the territory, like very fertile ground,” adds the actress. Guy gives it an intriguingly slanted look. Being a country girl myself, I really like the earthy aspect of the character, with this almost raw connection to the elements. No doubt there will one day be a study of the relationship to the organic in Guy’s work. Some scenes may seem more shocking – I had to do them anyway – but they reflect the daily lives of people living on a farm. In my eyes, all of this has great symbolic power. »
PHOTOGRAPH LAURENCE GRANDBOIS BERNARD PROVIDED BY SPHERE FILMS
Christine Beaulieu, Micheline Lanctôt, Béatrice Picard, Pascale Bussières, Mégane Proulx and Marilyn Castonguay embody women from four generations of the same family in Frontières, a film directed by Guy Édoin.
Pascale Bussières does like Guy Édoin’s cinema and enjoys being part of it, but Pascale Bussières admits that she found the very first screening – private of course – of Frontières difficult.
“This exercise of seeing yourself in something for the first time is always difficult,” she says. But here especially. I’m getting older and I have to accept that it’s still 10 times more on the big screen. And then this film touches very painful areas. »
PHOTO PROVIDED BY SPHERE FILMS
Pascale Bussières and Mégane Proulx play mother and daughter in Frontières, a film directed by Guy Édoin.
We don’t like to see ourselves in these states, especially since we then realize that the others will now be watching us. It is as if in this moment we are measuring the extent of abandonment.
Pascale Bussières
“Admittedly, I was a bit depressed when I got home after the screening. In these moments, the same question always arises: Should I stop or continue? Luckily, the weight loss phase comes next! »
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Pascale Bussieres
A benevolent look
Pascale Bussières, who became a hugely popular star 30 years ago thanks to the Blanche series, the sequel to Les Filles de Caleb directed by Charles Binamé, looks more sympathetically at a time when she was a little torn inside.
“Back then I despised the star system and was a bit arrogant. Sometimes I come across old interviews I’ve given and I find it appalling. In a field where everything was much more divided than it is today, I had this belief that I came from independent, more underground cinema and I always thought I would stay there. I suddenly found myself in the mainstream and everything that goes with it. Still, Blanche gave me a lot, including an extraordinarily creative family. »
What must an artistic project have three decades later to win the favor of Pascale Bussières?
“That he has something to defend,” she replies directly. That it has a relevance, a sincerity, and it’s a bit of a challenge for an actress. From the moment I’m offered something intelligent, I’m open to all genres. There is no absolute rejection zone for me. »
Frontières hits theaters on March 3rd