• VIDEO on-line cut took 20 hours. be done in TV, and what can be done by able at the end of the first year. • "People who don't know the show think The music came together smoothly. film personnel in TV." When he was in No TV sale has been made to the it's tied to current events and assume it's John Mills-Cockell, at the time doing a Hollywood in 1982, says Pickford, "Film United States or Europe, though a Bri­ no longer relevant today. I feel the show show at Toronto Free Theatre, wrote people were just starting to realize tish distributor, London Films, is hand­ can surface in five years and be able to the original score in two days. lilt was they'd better learn video ifthey wanted ling European sales and Butler travelled stand on its own." And please, says the like a Christmas gift," said Griffiths. Two to continue editing. In the late seven­ to MIP-TV in Cannes this spring to actress, don't call it satire. "I hate that Rolling Stones songs were used in the ties, video was considered a toy. Only _promote the show. Though he says it's word and its connotation that the play is show, "Paint It Black" and "Wild Hor­ recently has there been recognition "reasonably possible to get all its costs spiteful" Director Lavut agrees: the ses", but those aren't the Stones on the (from film people) of its real potential back in Canada," Butler is hopeful show, subtitled "A fantasy of love, poli­ soundtrack. Producer Butler put togeth­ for artistic expression." Massie & Pierre can also be successful tics, and the media," is not re~tlly satire, er a sound-alike band and recorded the: First Choice has licenced the show in foreign markets. lilt's as handsome as preferring instead the term romance.

tunes at Comfort Sound in Toronto - essentially for five years. The pay net­ anything produced by BBC or the U.S. II Some of it is funny, but it's not an anti­ and he says he hasn't met anyone yet work has it exclusively the first two networks. I've seen nothing that makes Trudeau diatribe. It's a feminist look at who can tell the difference. years, except for eight playdates on it look pale. The only thing standing in Canadian history." Whatever you choose Pickford, a Canadian who spent eight TVOntario in year two. It's available to its wayan the international market is its to call it, if time proves that the only years working in Los Angeles for the U.S. broadcast TV the third year, and Global subject matter. Some people might feel good thing produced by Canadian pay­ television industry, says Maggie & Pierre has bought one playdate for Ontario. it's too Canadian for a foreign audience." TV's first year is Maggie & Pierre, it's a changed his outlook on Canadian pro­ First Choice re-acquires it in years four If anything disappoints Griffiths, it's legacy the whole country can be proud duction. lilt really illustrates what can and five. Video cassette right are avail- public misconceptions of her play. ~ . average Canadian feature_ He has relied leaves her more worried ofwhat others final scenes, . it$ , ~eITe b~tes his $0 Martin Lavut's only minimally on realism. The char­ think than how she feels about herself. Henry and Maggie delivers a .... acters evoke the real Maggie &., Pierre, Pierre does nOt share herinsecurities. indictment on hypocrisy from theStudlo Maggie & Pierre but verisimilitude is not the intent: As an angry young manin Paris, he rises 54 dance Opor, Griffith$mllk.e;sttl~ when Griffiths delivers Pierre's conven­ ;it six each morning to splash his body viewer confrol1therch~l'~cters'hum~!1- tion speech, the campaign posters are of cold water. "Why? To be strong. What ity, forcing (he. aud~ence to suspend her,n-olthe real Pierre Trudeau, Careful for? To fight Who? Mys¢lf, and wh(}­ moral judSJfient. ··· She· turns the. tab1e.l:!? a,ttention to detail has been taken in the eVer else dares me." His determination and suddenly it's clear~a~Pjerre and It often seems Canadian television art direction · and set design, as with and individuality bring him to power, Maggie have. been standmg4ti forav~t ~amas have .exjsted exclllsively in the Maggie's little-gir~-perfect phlk bed­ but the play asks., What kind of person ~egntent of(::anadian. s~jety,~~u . realistic mode, the country's most in­ room or the interiors of 24 Sussex Drive, wants to be Prime Minister? One who complacent, bored, who Hveiua-- _, fluential genre being dOtudraIIMl,rhose with the furnitUre slightly larger than envisions a JusfSociety which wiU /~cast oftwice-a.yeartropit?aJ y~~atiQ:nsaflttt.l( i~~ll&rids of .pcti011. .· and life-sizer where .. the clutter of books, down the totems, break the taboos", or r~nningofftoEt1I'{)peWitP "Five thou· fact whichfreq;u.ently achieve neither. statues, and an inordinate number of orie, intoxicated by the jf)b'suninhib-ited. $~n~ldoUarsofDaddfs moil~~!*a Perhaps that's why the pay~ TV adapta­ portraits smother thc$Cel"ie, with hilr adulation, shrugs at the (;arpera and "ruoby Mums and Dads~ntbeil'r .' tion of Linda.Griffiths and Paul Thomp­ torieal fiXity, evoking the oppressive­ says "It's hard to resist." tuxed~s and one long dresS" where the son's hir-playMaggie& Pierre feels· so n(:lssof power. Maggie and Pierre's May·December k~ss!l~ako£flo~he l]afhroom t(}slriQl}~. refreshingly dif(erel"it: though its sub­ , The stage shows appealing character marriage ideally couldacllievea syn­ a joint -ject is undisputedly factual, its approach transformations have been stunningly thesis of complementary opposites, yet "Oh, we'peso together; aren't W~; is. decidedly not realistic, Expre&sionistic, accomplished for TV, With thecaroera the play offers no grand vl$ion of love. ladies? We're s~ on top of itaf~t ... poetic, even surreal might better de­ On her bare faetas she rolls out of bed, The real terms of their marriage are Maggie to her legion of accusers, scri"bethisIB,agnificent one-person show Maggie steps into bfack oxfords,· then embodied in Pierre's moUo, "Reason voice Wicked with sarcasmlherindict~ starring Griffiths and directed by Martin into roen's trousers, and as the caroera Over Passion", and the emotional chasm ment no doubt influences Henry's deCi' Lavut. pans to her face she has become Henry, between them is manifested in Maggie's sionto abandon journalism.) As Maggie This TV production has risen$mpres­ trenchcoat on, microphone in hand, speech in the garden. "It looks like 'dances at Studio 54, oblivious to her sively to the original material: not since pursuing Pierre. In the press club scene, wings beating underneath the water:' detractors, she has finally achieved The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz the charactei'sof Maggie and Pierre she says~f raindrops falling on a pond. freedom from the.guilttl;iat so tortured has the English Canadian production change back and forth in the same per­ "Pierre would say, 'No, Margaret, it's just her youth. But she has paid he~prlce~ industry so skillfully transformed such a fectly credible shot through the magic the intersection of the Wind and the rain and her journey has led onlyto tliat den hard piece of cultural currency to the of lighting and Griffiths' ,performance. causing that configuration on the .sur­ of narcissism, the disco. "Which do y/)~ screen. In both' cases, not surprisingly, For these marvellous transitions alone face. But I know it's wings:' think is my best feature: my legs ... ol'fliY the original authors contributed fo(reatiy the show is worth seeing ~ they indicate If Maggie is Passipn and Pierre Reason, bum?" asks kinky Maggie, and the au. to the success. Linda Griffiths' tremend­ a creative refusal not to fall back on the third party, Henry the journalist, is dience is allowed the illusion theyreoff ous resourcefulness as an actress shows the full conventions of realism. Judgment: A passive recorder but active the book. fully here as she accomplishes three It's ironic the production revives the moralizer, Henry fills many functions. The play ends where it began, at a roles, two of them men, one the Prime story's original events on television, the On one level, the story can be said to be pawn shop undertha bridge where Minister of Canada. If that's not enough, medium which more than any shaped played out in Henry's imagination, neatly Henry now makes his home, the TV set as co-author (with Paul Thompson) she the national consciousness of Pierre takmgthe pressure off the shows use of in the window playing the national has pared downlhe screenplay to a lean and Margaret's public images. Televi· real people and real events. With Henry, anthem {the NFB's Oh Canada film; no and efficient 75 minutes. Not padded to sion, which borrows dramatic techni­ the play can explore the parasitic/sy~­ lessl. The camera pulls back to reveal meet network time requirements, the ques for its tidy little 90-second news­ biotic relationship between politicians the crew, sets, and lights: a post· modern shortened stage sCript achieves a taut clips, is plundered by drama for source and journalists, as When Pierre soliCits admission of the artifice. On the sou{1d· TV rhythm of its own. material: the confrontation on the steps marital advice from Henry. "Don't you track, mad Henry's voice rambles : "An For director Lavut, whose film Bruce between Henry and Pierre over the have someone else you can talk to, like a amnesia is spreading over the land ... Cockburn: Rumours of Glory was that War Measures Act is lifted right off the friend?" asks the uncomfortable jour­ But I'll remember:'Given the. quality, cinematic rarity, the compelling rock six o'clock news. But the news media's nalist. 'iNa," responds Pierre, surprised strength, and imagination of this re­ concert -documentary, Maggie & Pierre pat assumptions clearly aren't enough at the question. !llarkable TV production, audiences .will represents another triumph in a peril­ to satisfy the intellectual curiosity of Canada's myth makers and pop heroes remember, too. . ous genre. Plays can start slowly: the Griffiths and Thompson, who move the have more often been Journalists than Bruce Malloch • audience has paid good money for their text a step further - into an imaginary writers and actors !who's reallv the seats and no one's going to walk out world whose hypotheses nevertheless bigger star, Barbara Frum or G~rdon MAGGIE & PIERRE d. Martin Lavul p. Rick after 15 minutes. On television, though, bear a sharp resemblance to the viewer's Pinsent?) so it's apt that Henry explains Butler se. -Linda G.jffiths, with Paul ThompsQP especially cable TV where converters own personal experiences. the country's attraction to Pierre: he ori~ mus. & eomp. John MilIs-Cockella.d. Gerry have spawned a corps of "zappers" Though it makes the points that sex is Wilkinson creative cons. Paul Thompeoo .orlg. wasn't "vhat Canadians were like, he prod. Theatre Passe MuraiUe art. d. ChariesDunlop ready to change channels at the slight­ political and politics sexy, the show was what they wished they were like, cost. des. Mary Jane McCarty make-up Shooag1t est provocation, programs must grab ultimately succeeds through its hard, "Pierre Trudeau ? Oh yeah, just another Jab~ur hair Judy Coope.... Sealy, Ivan Lynch props. the audience immediately and hold untlinching look at the discrepancy be­ typical Canadian, French? Sure, most of Ennco· Campana asst. props. Gerry Wil)tinSOIl them. How ? It can "jolt" them with tween how Canadian society exists and us are bilingue parfait. Sexy? It's the da~ce choreo. Norrey Drummond p. man. Jane ReId p •. sup. GregCopeh\11d staging sup. Don Mor­ titullating bits-- some sitcom analysts how it perceives itself, It stabs the coun­ long winters." Hut after the October tImer hght. cons. Barney Stewart light cL Adrian prescribe a success formula of one jolt tl)"s complacency, narcissism, and guilt Crisis, Henry supplies the ammunition Goldberg light. ops. Bruce Whiteford, Tom Fen­ every seven seconds - or do it the old­ Experimenting with "lifestyle", Maggie to turn this adulation into hatred. "We nessey tech. d. Ed Yen audio sup. John McJi;wen fashioned way, mixing quality writing wonders what to do with her life: believed that this ' .vas one country that boomG-ord Chakra 8". efx. Ralph Cole, Roger "Maybe I'll open a school for retarded HarNs, r.;torgan Earl cam. Simon Dalrymple, Les and performance with compelling wasn't backed up by guns. He rubbed Medon VI" eo Ene Posner, Richard Gundersen VTR cinematic technique. children, Maybe I'll join the revolution our noses into the fact that it was." But Peter Light post-po cons. Linda Pickford p.assts, Lavut has taken the hard road. An avid and the Black Panthers. Maybe I'll drop what exactly was betrayed, freedom or Tim Sabourin, Bob SorgeI', Ron Freneh TV assts. P;!.t photographer, he has placed great em­ out and do lots of really good drugs." illusion? McEleney. Derwyn Barker grip Miphael O'Connor 8UP, ed. Terry Pickford post audln Gll"g Zekkou phasis on the production's visual ap­ Whatever her choice, her conscience After their marriage collapses, Maggie sp. tnL Johri Ryan stUdio roo. Comfort Sound p.e, proach, designing tluid camera moves will torment her: "Margaret, you still runs off to (where else?) the United Tapestry Productions, produced with the participa­ and striking lighting contrasts more sound like a phony." Her insecurity and States to "have fun" While Pierre shrouds ~on o~ the ~nadian Film Development Corpora­ sophisticated than those seen in the self-absorption, typically Canadian, himself in solitude and prayer. In these tion dlst. Ftrst Choice Canadian Communications Corp. running time 75 min, I.p. Linda Griffiths, e -

vides proof again that documentaries Yves Simoneau's can be, in form, both dynamic and refreshing. Like Gilles Carle in Jouer sa vie, Pourquoi I'etrange Simoneau constructs his documentary as a fiction, through the combined use Monsieur Zolock of film footage, animation and dramati­ zation. But, whereas Carle managed to bring out the drama both inherent to the s'interessait-t-il game of chess and surrounding inter­ national chess matches, Simoneau's tant it la bande film avoids all controversy and, to my mind, brings out only the blandest facts about the bande dessinee. dessinee? WHAT, you may ask, IS this "bande dessinee which so intrigues Monsieur Pourquoi l'etrange Monsieur Zolock Zolock ?" This is where the problem s'interessait-il tant a la bande dessi­ starts. Although nowhere in the film is nee ? ... the title intrigues ... Mr. WHO, the American comic book mentioned or you think, the bande WHAT, you won­ even alluded to, the bande dessinee is der ... but there really is no time to essentially a by-product of American wonder. From the moment it bursts comics The film attribute s the origins of onto the screen, this film grabs you by the bande dessinee to Becassine 11910), the hand and sends you crashing through a very linear, frame-illustrated account the frames of a giant comic strip, intro­ of the trials and tribulations of a Breton ducing you, at reckless speed, to its nanny. This may truly be the origins of heroes and villains ... and, leaving you, Tintin, but much more significantly, in the end, either baffled or seduced ... if bande dessinee is both inspired by and not en tirely informed. a reaction against its American counter­ • Jean-Louis Millette's Monsieur Zolock in an excess of enthusiasm Winner of a SpeCial Jury Award at the part. While the comic book is an integral rican comic books ; highly polished in strip, you might be a hard candidate to Banff Television Festival in 1983, as well part of U.S. culture, reflecting its values form and structure, it denounces the win over, espeCially where the drama­ as a Genie in 1984, Pourquoi l'etrange and its social structure, as well as pro­ American culture portrayed in comics tization is concerned. Mixing different Monsieur is directed by Yves viding it with heroes, European bande Zolock ... and usually features an anti-hero. In any art forms is no mean trick in itself, but Simoneau. And if, nothing else, it pro- dessinee is often a comment on Ame- event, it has become a veritable industry, transposing the comic strip into the and can now be found translated and three-dimensional is virtually impos­ published in American comic books, sible. It certainly demands a great act of such as Heavy Metal. faith on the part of the viewer, and I, for However, the fact that Yves Simoneau one, had to pause and reflect before opts to treat the bande dessinee as an agreeing to play the game .. . to cast my isolated phenomenon, although a se­ vote for Mr. Zolock. Even then, I would rious omission, does not detract from have liked to see more of the work and the film's other qualities. heard less of the explanations. So, back to Pourquoi l'etrange Mon­ As the film sheds light on the bande sieur Zolock s'interessait-il tant a la dessinee, Monsieur Zolock's intentions bande dessinee ? become clearer ; the documentary ser­ A fan of both detective stories and ves to unfold the narrative, and vice­ comics, Simoneau has cleverly mixed versa. But at the end, the artifice becomes both genres to create a documentary­ too apparent. One wonders which of the wrapped-up-in fiction. Thus, while in­ rather banal observations ha~ impelled troducing us to some twenty French, Monsieur Zolock to jump through the Belgian and Quebec bande dessinee window proclaiming "J'ai reussi a tra­ creators, Pourquoi weaves its own {;o­ verser la page ... a moi, le monde." Was it mic-strip style storyline complete with because Bilal creates atmosphere with villain, sci-fi settings and moralistic colour, or perhaps because Bretecher denoument. The interviews therefore hates routine, or maybe because Asterix become only one of the elements of a has grossed 100 million dollars in one fiction. year Ithat's reason enough). .. No, I think As the film opens, the villainous Mon­ the dice was loaded from the beginning. sieur Zolock IJean-Louis Millette) is Our Monsieur Zolock knew from the found asking the naive Dieudonne start that, as the villain, he would try and IMichel Rivard) to report on what he has conquer all .. . and this is what really found since being hired to penetrate the pushed him to try and fly like Super­ mysteries of the bandes dessinee. This man. Or maybe it was just an excess of sets the stage for a series of interviews, enthusiasm for bande dessinee, brought seen as flashbacks, where some of the on by a film that tries a little too hard, great names in the field - Greg, Moebius, and says a little too little. Bila!, Gaboury, Fred, Reiserand others­ talk about their work, their methods Josee Miville-Dechene • and their objectives. MOving swiftly, the camera catches them at different angles in a succession of zooms, close-ups, pans, side and overhead shots. And, as it POURQUOI L'ETRANGE MON- closes in on Claire Bretecher's face, . SIEUR ZOLOCK S'INTERESSAIT­ travels alongside Christin and Goetzin­ IL TANT A LA BANDE DESSINEE? ger, plunges down on DruilJet at work in d. Yves Simoneau p. Nicole M. Boisvert re8. &: sc. his studio and pans over the printed Marie·Loup Simon cam. Jean-Louis Chevretils, page, it recreates the quick-paced plane Abel Kane cam. a88t. Pierre Pelletier 8d. Jean-Guy Bergeron ed. Fran!;ois Dupuis a.d. &: p.man. Lucie and perspective changes of the comic Paquet mU8. Michel Bergeron 8d. ed. Paul Dian strip. mixer Michel Descom bes 8ti1l8 Claudel Huot cost. Simoneau travels playfully through Georges Levesque mask8 and mural Paul Col· the dimensions of reality, bringing the pron add. 8d. Michel Charron logo concept Geof· froi de Bontemps set des. Vianney Gauthier make­ heroes to life while reducing their crea­ up Jasmine DeSjardins hair Alain Thiboutot tors to comic strip characters, all the props Pierre Masse key grip Elo; Deraspe gaffer w hile m aintaining unity through imagi­ Jean-Paul Houle p. a88t. Stephane Wellsgraphic& native editing and subtle music and Real Godbout titles Josee Perreault, Real Godbout puppet8 Micheline Legendre image cons. Yves sound effects. Millet mus. ed. Jules Le Noir animation Groupe There's no need to be an ardent fan to Film Opticals lab. Bellevue-Pathe running time : enjoy all this ... still, it may help. If you 90 mins. colour 16 mm dist. Filmoption Interna· are totally immune to the visual style tionale Inc. (5141 931-6180 J.p. Jean-Louis Millette, Michel Rivard, Yves Desgagnes, Paul Colpron, and the pop cultural appeal of the comic Jasmine Desjardins.

18/Cinema Canada - J uly-August 1984 IIII - II II PANAVISIDN II II J c:: L~ .f'J ~ ~ .At..

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July-August 1984 - Cinema Canada/19