For a while we saw Valérie Blais much less often. A farewell from the spotlight chosen by the actress, who felt the need to be a little forgotten and take care of her mother, who suffers from a degenerative disease. Today she returns to her profession while being part of the cast of the series L'aréna à Noovo and will be one of the sisters-in-law in the highly anticipated film by René Richard Cyr.
• Also read: Would Valérie Blais make a humorous comeback? she answers
• Also read: Watch a first excerpt from the film Our Sisters-in-Law
Valérie, tell me about your character in the series L'aréna?
I'm so happy with this role and even more happy to play with Benoît Brière! We came from the same cohort at the National Theater School and our two classes did many projects together. We then never worked together for over 35 years, and now the time has finally come. I felt like I was in my twenties. We both play arena employees; I'm in the cafeteria and he's running the place.
What can we say about your character?
Patricia is the queen of Putin. Daniel, Benoît's character, and she will surely fall in love, at least in the long run. I enjoyed acting in this sketch series because I found the comedy that I had missed. They were exceptional working conditions; We had time to do things well and that is a great luxury. Doing comedy is what I love the most, that's all I would do. That makes me happy.
• Also read: See the first pictures of the new show L'aréna
You've been pretty rare for a while, why?
I'm slowly returning to my job because I needed to slow down. I have an elderly mother that I was caring for and I also distanced myself from my job because I realized I was being exposed to a lot. I had to let myself forget a little. After my first one-woman show, which I hosted around 150 times, I couldn't say anything more about myself. At some point I wanted to take a break because I no longer knew what to say about myself in the interview. I starred in the Nuit Blanche series and it was cancelled. After that I kind of fell into oblivion.
What have you been doing during this time away from the spotlight?
I was looking after my mother who is very sick. She was 17 years old and had Parkinson's disease in her body. This is a woman who is still sane, and during the pandemic she told me that she would die if she stayed in her senior center. So we took her out and put her in an apartment next to us that we had set up for her. We cared for my mother for two years and it was demanding… Since Parkinson's is a degenerative disease, there came a time when we could no longer meet her needs and she returned to a center to receive more appropriate care. I am an only child and it is important to me to take care of my mother. Since she is in her right mind, I organize myself so that she doesn't get bored. But I don't want to hide the fact that it was difficult to bring her back to a center.
You returned to acting with a role in Our Sisters-in-Law. Tell me about it…
It's a beautiful role, I feel so privileged… It's a great opportunity to be able to star in a project like this, under such great conditions and with an actor-director like René Richard Cyr. I play Lisette de Courval, the one who speaks well. This project is unprecedented in Quebec, we are in the top class with the music of Daniel Bélanger, the dancers of Révolution and the choreographies of Team White. We'll see the little ladies doing hip-hop! This movie is going to be crazy. It was magical filming with this gang of girls and in this beautiful, very limited bubble. It was a great privilege, I loved everything. This summer I will be playing in the theater, in a new summer production called “May Contain Traces of Ego”, at the Théâtre La Marjolaine, in Eastman, in Estrie. So it's a great year…
Tell me, are we afraid of being forgotten if we take a break?
It is certain that there is a risk and that this fear is always in the back of your mind. At the same time, I prefer it to an endless, hectic race that always ends and starts again from the beginning. I've been doing this job for over 30 years. There are times when you work a lot and others when you don't work at all. It goes hand in hand with supply and demand. Also, I'm getting older and I think there are fewer and fewer roles for women my age on television. My line-up changes, I change and I'd rather be forgotten for a bit and then come back. I find it boring to always see the same people. Each of us has our moment in our careers, and I have to accept that mine may be over.
And what would be your moment in your career?
The “All About Me” series gave me a big boost and I was able to do all kinds of business after that. It seems like it nourished me and made me do beautiful roles. The pandemic has slowed things down a bit, and I also have to say that I'm choosing my projects a lot more now. There is a rule of three in work that involves asking yourself the questions: Do I like the gang? Can I earn a living with this? Do I like the project? You need three good reasons to undertake a project. Jean-Louis Millette said that at the time, and he was right. That's why I now give myself the freedom to choose.
How is your friend Fabien Dupuis?
He's doing well, we've been together for 21 years. We haven't seen him for a while either, but he's very involved in writing projects. We develop different things together and also have a wonderful project that is already 12 years old… It's our daughter Romy. She's charming, but I don't think she'll follow in our footsteps professionally, even though she recently told us with a grimace that she didn't understand why we did this job. (laughs) Her father then explained to her that being an actor means the pleasure of playing multiple lives and she told him that she didn't need that because she loved him, her life. . Let's just say my daughter isn't boring and she has personality! But I don't think she'll become an actress.
Were you the mother you wanted to be?
No, but I realize that I loved it when my daughter was between three and five years old. I have to admit that I was more of a spectator since she was young. Rather, it is his father who takes the reins. I'm trying not to jump the gun so that Romy and I remain partners in crime, but I would say that my boyfriend is better at dealing with teenagers than I am. They have a great father-daughter bond. I would have liked to have had several children and adopted them, but I had my daughter late and now Fabien and I are too old for such a project.
You've already whispered to me that you'd like to do a second one-woman show…
Yes, I would really like that, it's part of my plans. When I play in the theater this summer, I would like to try out a few numbers in the little café on the square. I think this will be the right place for it. It was Marie-Andrée Labbé who signed the lyrics for my first show and I would like to write a lot more for the next one…
The arenaWednesday 7:30 p.m., in Noovo. May contain traces of ego will play at Théâtre La Marjolaine in Eastman starting June 14th. Info at lamarjolaine.info. Our sisters-in-law hits theaters on July 11th.