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onique Mercure, one of, if not the most internationally renowned Mfrancophone actress from Canada, came close to never having an acting career at all. First trained as a musician, then for a long time content as a verypri­ vate wife and mother, she came to acting later in life than most of her contem­ poraries. Born Monique Hemond in the Mont­ real of the Great Depression, in 1930, she remembers her lower-middle-class neighborhood of Snowdon with affec­ tion. Standing out in her mind ate the in­ fluences of her father, a poor bank teller most of his life, her mother who loved to play the piano, and a peculiat older aunt who played cello for the Sym­ phony Orchestra and who encouraged the bright lO-yeat-old Monique into a classical music cateer. Scenes etched into her childhood memory: listening for hours to dramas and operas on the radio; her uncle bring­ ing her to see a Shakespeate play at His Majesty's Theatre (now gone) on Guy Street in an English language she did not yet understand; being called on to recite poems in front of the class because she had such a cleat and distinct voice; leatning to sing and to perform. "My first time on stage I was only five III yeats old. I remember only the panic. ·s Also the pleasure of being backstage, of ~ ______.. ______.. o putting on a costume." Her patents made sacrifices so she could attend a private music school, even buying her a 575 cello - an incred­ ible sum in those days. Another scene of her youth: She, a pe­ 's tite 15-year-old, Catrying that latge in­ strument to classes, standing shoulder to shoulder on a crowded tramway car (also now gone) with the instrument case everywhere in the way. A hand­ some 19-yeat-old boy is sitting neatby. Looking at her he says "Well, I suppose I'll just have to give you my seat, won't Balancing Act I?" She laughs, and their love story be­ gins. He is Pierre Mercure, also a student saying, urging her to put on the broach. says as enthusiastically as possible. with he} at the Ecole superieure de by Andre Guy Arsenault It is a rather pretty, though by now tar­ The photographer begins to snap musique d'Outremont. He is a talented nished, weave of interlockingfilaments away, concentrating now on the tech­ musician, destined to become one of ofgold. It is the Palme d'Or, her prize for nical task at hand. There is among the Canada's most distinguished composers, er apartment is within one of those winning Best Actress honours at the photographer's things a research­ author of complex works such as Struc­ grandiose historical buildings in Cannes Film Festival 10 years before. paquet Of photographs taken Of Mer­ tures metalliques (1962) and HOld Montreal, one that tourists The photographer can feel the sting oj cure, young and old, throughout her Psaume pour abri (1963). stand back from and wonder what its sharp points on his palm. He can career. After awhile, she becomes fasCi­ Monique flirts with acting, her first great persons lived there in the past. also tell it hasn't been out of its case in nated by one of them that lies on top of playa Commedia dell'-Arte amateur pro­ There is a cello against a corner and a a long time. the rest. She picks it up and looks in­ dUction, for which she auditioned with­ piano against one wall, with furniture "No, no," begs Mercure. I never wear tently at the image for a long moment out telling her patents. She now has twO arranged in such a way as to be people­ it. It's not like me to wear it. " "Please," - an image that does not carry credits loves: acting which comes so naturally, intensive. The living room is conforta­ he insists, looking intently at her eyes. so that it cannot be dated or sourced, a and Pierre Mercure who is sitting in the ble and low-key, without pretense, She's amazing, he thinks. How old is picture of herself in the guise of some audience, thrilled to watch her play. much like its longtime present occup­ she? Must be 57 now. I know women mysterious character that she played on Eventually she will matry Pierre and ant: actress Monique Mercure. half her age who don't look nearly as some long-ago stage. Aloud, she asks will follow him to Europe where he goes She is off in one corner, having her good. And she's smaller in person than "Who is she?" to further his cateer. Friends who knew picture taken for a magazine, patient I imagined. Funny how you think film "Funny," smiles the reporter as he them then remember the handsome as the photographer gives her minute stars are bigger in real life. "A nd the busies himself inserting new film into couple: he the brooding intellectual, she instructions on how she should sit and cello, " he says, suddenly inspired. 'Just the camera, how actors refer to charac­ the shy, sloe-eyed beauty, newlyweds how she should hold her hands. hold the cello close to you, like this, yes. ters they've played as real people, out­ hungry for living, driving hundreds of "Please wear it," the photographer is Visually it will represent the route be­ side themselves. "I don't know sorry " miles simply to listing to Pablo Casals tween playing tbe cello as a young girl he says. . " play at the Prades Music Festival, explor­ and. .. " hefumbles with his lenses, trying For a time she still stares at the photo. ers of the French countrySide from the Andre Guy Arsenault is a freelance to be quick, '~ .. winning Best Actress at "Oh, yes, it was long ago, very early in back of a tired Velosolex, their Patis _writer I photographer Cannes as a woman. It'll be PerJect!'~ he my career, " she reminisces... apattment always full of music or

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QuebecOis expatriates such as Riopelle you are forced into the reality of acting. role in I'Opera de Quat'Sous at Le It is barely 24 hours later when the or . She remembers being I'm self-taught. I don't regret not having Theatre du Rideau Vert. After only two curtain rises on the practically unknown introduced to Jean Cocteau, notoriously had formal, conservatory training, but weeks into the production Monique Monique Mercure: she begins slowly, famous as the great poet-weiter-painter· I'm insecure. Insecurity is a kind of a Leyrac, who holds the leading role, frac­ warming up to the role, singing her six mmmaker and living legend of his time. motor. Through insecurity you're al­ tures a leg and cannot go on. Mercure is newly-learned songs, and earns her "I just stood there with my mouth open. ways looking to prove you can do bet­ asked in desperation to take on the part, applause and her first notices from the What else was a 19-year·old girl to do?" ter." to learn the pivotal role overnight. (The critics. Their daughter Michele is born in One of her first big breaks comes in old actor's call to 'Break a leg' will take For one month she will play that role, 1952, with twin-boys Daniel and Christ· 1963, after Jean Cascon gives her a small on a new meaning here.) for one month she will fill the stage, and ian two years later. The entire decade then disaster - she herself breaks a leg, that was the '50s is dedicated to family skiing, and for the next five months she life, though Monique was by this time cannot work on the stage again, the feeling a growing fascination with act­ momentum of her sudden rise smashed ing. In Paris, she takes a few classes, dis­ to a standstill, the insecurity of the pro­ covering that despite a profound shy­ fession like dark laughter on an empty ness that permeates her real life, in the stage. make-believe world of acting the bar­ Unable to do salaried work, she in­ riers fall and the characters breath multi­ stead accepts Claude Jutra's call to be in hued magic all their own. his first -made feature-length, A "It's surprising that most actors and Tout prendre (1963), her first import­ actresses aren't very outgoing. It's some­ ant role in film. Neither she nor any of times very deep inside that makes you the other actors are paid, they have to have the desire to be someone else. Act­ shoot 'around' her broken leg, there are ing is like a channel through which you problems and constant interruptions in express things that you have inside." the shooting schedule. Mercure thrills at As the decade fades, so does the mar- the work.

"Sometimes I wish we actors ~ "People don '[ rush to see a could practice and develop , ~certain actor in a movie our instruments like musi­ ~ here (in Quebec), they go cians do." ~ see a film." -0 c

o (5 riage. "For years I lived under my hus­ L-______... "8.~------. In 1966, she learns that Pierre Mer- band's shadow," she would say later. cure has died in a terrible automobile ac­ "But out of my own free will. There are cident on a French road. He was 39. Now moments in every marriage where it she is really alone. either evolves or breaks. For uS ...it FILMOCRAPHY 1968 saw two important events that broke. ln any intelligent couple things would change her life. One was working can't remain the same eternally: sooner 1952: Ti-Coq, by Gratien Gelinas 1975: L'Absence, by Brigitte Sauriol under French theatre-director Jean­ or later, I needed to live my own life." 1959: Felix Leclerc, by Claude Jutra 1976: Parlez-Nous d'amour, by Jean­ Marie Serreau in Homme pour She returned to Montreal with her 1963: A Tout prendre, by Claude Jutra Claude Lord Homme. Serreau would make Mercure children, at a time and to a place where 1964: Le Festin des morts (Astataion) , 1977: La Chanson de Roland, by Frank discover herself as an actress, working a divorced woman was apt to be by Fernand Dansereau Cassenti together to perfect a pure distillation of scorned. Even though Pierre would help 1964: Ce n'est pas Ie temps des romans, 1977: The Third Walker, by Teri C. the art of acting itself, a transcending financially with their upbringing of the by Fernand Dansereau McLuhan career experience. It would also spark children, most of the '60s were to prove 1967: Waiting for Caroline, by Ron 1978: Quintet, by Robert Altman for her a lifelong fascination and love for extremely difficult; both from the raising Kelly 1978: Stone Cold Dead, by George Men­ the works of the great German play­ of children alone and the attempt to 1968: Don't let the Angels Fall, by deluk wright Bertholt Brecht. build a career in a difficult profession. George Kaczender 1979: Contrecoeur, by Jean-Guy Noel The second important event was a Despite whatever natural talent she 1969: Love in a 4 Letter World, by John 1979: La Cuisine rouge, by Paule Baillar­ chance encounter with an old acquain­ might have, her training was sparse. Stone geon & Frederique Collin tance: Claude Fournier. According to the There was much to do. Getting parts 1969: Deux femmes en or, by Claude 1980: Odyssey of the PacifiC, by Fer­ oft-told story, it is Mercure who jokingly meant taking frequent time off from a Fournier nando Arrabal told him he should put her in a movie. day- job working in a jewelry store, going 1970: , by Claude 1980: Une Joumee en taxi, by Robert He took her at her word. from casting call to casting call, making Jutra Menard The script Fournier submitted to her contacts. She takes night classes in 1970: Finalement... , hy Richard Martin 1981: La Quarantaine, by Anne Claire was one of those quickie, comic sexploi­ Method Acting over three years (most of 1971: Fran(:oise Durocher, Waitress, by Poirier tation films (forerunner of the Porkies her classmates barely out of high-school, Andre Brassard 1983: Les Annees de reves, by Jean­ of our generation) aimed at the lowest while she is already in her '30s and a 1971: Le Temps d'une chasse, by Francis Claude Labrecque common denominator. It required a mother). She begins with small roles in Mankiewicz 1983: The Blood of Others, by Claude great deal of nude scenes on Mercure's small productions. The bit parts she does 1973: II Btait une fois dans i'est, by Chabrol part, and promised to be one of those get in films pay little or nothing. Eventu­ Andre Brassard 1983: La Dame en couleurs, by Claude gross sexual farces (much to her dis- ally there shall be bigger parts in bigger 1974: Pour Ie meilleur et pour Ie pire, Jutra may). It did, however, have two good productions, but always they will be in­ by Claude Jutra 1984: Tramp at the Door, by Allen things going for it. The script was very, terspersed with those constantly recur­ 1974: Les Vautours, by Jean-Claude lab­ Kroeker very funny (and to this would later be ring periods of actor's unemployment. recque 1986: Les Boltes, by Michel Poulette added a brilliantly satirical music score Throughout those hungry years, she 1975: L'Amour blesse, by Jean-Pierre 1986: Qui a tire sur nos histoires by ) and Mercure will return home to children with their Lefebvre d'amours?, by Louise Carre trusted Fournier. "I knew him as a poet. own demands of time and energy, and 1975:JA Martin, jJhotographe, by Jean I knew his wit. I had great confidence in step by step slowly build up her training. Beaudin him." In addition, the $5,000 fee offered "The stage is a great training ground her for a few weeks work was more than • p R o F I L E •

lilt's surprising that most ac­ thusiastic, because I had my vacation in then eases as he walks past to greet a mind. I told him 'Look, I'll go to the audi­ visiting journalist. "Actors need to become tors and actresses aren't tion because Beaudin is an interesting Beaudin has a medium and angular frame, making him look almost like a apostles to their efforts, be­ very outgoing. It's some­ director and I'd like to meet him. But I cause being creative is very, thing very deep inside that don't know if the part is for me'." middleweight boxer with his finely chiseled hands, his strongly textured very difficult. It takes much makes you have the desire The role of Rose-Aimee was a depar­ ture from the ones she was known for in face smiling easily behind a dark mus­ time and effort, much pas­ is to be someone else. Acting the theatre: roles of harder, stronger, tache and topped by short salt & pepper sion, and a great deal of like a channel through hair. more complex heroines from works by love." which you express things Brecht, Tremblay and Tennessee Will­ He leads me past the bustle ofactivity that you have inside." iams; not exactly this innocent, passive of secretaries and office people to his woman from before the turn of the cen­ sparsely furnished personal office. A tury. neat desk bathes in soft pastel colours. "I remember wearing one of those Against one wall the edging ofan anti­ long, flowing dresses that were in vogue que window acts as the sole decoration. that summer. Since I didn't think I was Beaudin admits that in the begin­ half a year's acting salary. "At the time I getting the part I wasn't nervous at all ning he did not see Mercure in the "M ercure was just brimming with was naive enough to think that I could and I just did it." Afterwards, without pivotal role ofRose-Aimee , and said so energy that summer," remem· change Fournier's mind about the trivial waiting for the official results, she took to everyone. They screen-tested more bers Beaudin, who was genuinely nudity. But once on the set, what could ber plane and went on her vacation. than 20 actresses for that role, Mercure surprised at how deeply Mercure fitted I do?" being the last one that day. It is later, in into her role. "For those months, she be­ She was miserable through much of the privacy of the darkened screening came Rose-Aimee." the shoot, but she did manage to anchor room, that Beaudin was seized by the Members of the crew recall how she her character with some semblance of The office is on one of Montreal's realization that Mercure, with that used to prepare the orange juice for reality and even to inject some funny trendier streets, in a renovated, rambl­ voice and those eyes and with that in­ everyone in the morning, full of old-style bits of her own. ing oversized Victorian house. The credible mastery of the character . .. maternal attentiveness, almost always 'in Deux femmes en or became the sur­ pretty receptionist, flanked by a series there could be no other Rose-Aimee. character', a character some surmised prise hit of 1969, breaking all of ofartistic film posters, is busy organiz­ They rescheduled the shoot slightly to must be her own. Quebec's existing box-office records ing the small group of anxious actors accommodate for Mercure's return, and Much of the film was shot in exteriors, with a $2 l/2-million take for that pro­ waiting for their tum at a casting call. then they began the summer that every during a summer most recall as the' vince alone (a record that, ironically, Tension rises as comes one of them would remember for so bluest, warmest in memory; in a tum-of­ would hold firm until finally dethroned out a door and straight toward them, . long. the-century-like countryside rich with by that other look at our sexual morays: the mournful sigh of summer winds Denis Arcand's Declin de l'Empire • The shape of things in Mon Oncle Antoine mixed with the click-click of grasshop­ Americain). Her strategy worked: "If I per wings and the metal-to-metal sounds did that movie, it was mostly to become of set-ups of equipment among the tall /moum." In Quebec, Monique Mercure grass. Mercure played her Rose-Aimee was now a household name. confidently, beautiful in her period Theatre-director Andre Brassard later dresses, aware that it was a good role, offered her the role of her life: Rose that it was well-written, and that she was Ouimet in Les Belles soeurs by Michel happy. Tremblay, perhaps the greatest Quebec "If I summed up the last 20 years," play ever. The role proved to be her Beaudin says. "I would have to say my most difficult and her most rewarding, meeting Monique was one that affected earning both critical and popular me the most. You know, when you're acclaim. She would own that role for five writing a script, a character, it's all still productions, over 170 performances very. . . ethereal. But when you see a (some in English, which she by now reg­ great actress take those words and really ularly acted in) and take her throughout mold them into a living person, well. .. North America and Europe. Deux fem­ that was an eye-opener." mes en or may have made her a Star, but Beaudin raises his look to a 'period' Les Belles soeurs crowned her as a photograph of Mercure taken from that Great Actress. J.A. Martin summer, it's ancient-like Though her theatrical career was at sepia-tone adding richness to those al­ last solidly entrenched, lead roles in ready expressive eyes. "I think Monique films remained few and far between. Mercure is perhaps our greatest fran­ Claude Jutra was one of the few direc­ cophone actress alive. I'd put her in the tors who regularly cast her in his films. same league as or In his chef-d'oeuvre, Mon onele An­ , certainly." toine ( 1970), Mercure appears as a The film, or course, proved to be the mysterious widow, a role important in watershed event for Mercure and developing the story line and the charac­ Beaudin's careers. Selected to open the ter of the young protagonists - yet con­ 1977 Cannes Film Festival, it won the sisting only of a few brief scenes. Prix Eucomenique for Best Film to It would not be until 1975 that the in­ Beaudin and, to the astonishment of sev­ ternational film world would know of eral Canadian critiCS, the Palme d'Or as Monique Mercure. co-winner of Best Actress to Mercure. In the late spring of that year, Mercure (Though actors ritually refuse to refer to was finally relaxing through some meas­ the 'competitiveness' of such awards, ure of financial security - due mostly to the fact that Mercure beat out such her work in theatre. Following an exten­ major-name actresses as , sive run, she had saved enough money to Romy Schneider and take a very special vacation with her was not missed by the world press.) brothers in France. "I was about to leave Mercure, Beaudin and co-star/co­ when Beaudin's assistant called con­ writer Marcel Sabourin met on the cerning a leading role in J.A. Martin, beach at Cannes during those heady days photographe. At first I wasn't too en- of winning, to share a long-promised

24/Cinema Canada - September 1987 • p R o F I L E •

bottle offine Champagne. With the satis­ follows the Imperial and Swedish armies faction of the success came the realiza­ across 17th-century Europe selling liq­ tion that the future was assured for them uor and whatever to both sides in the all. Noted French film director Bernard Thirty Years' War. She does it for her Tavernier. in conversation with Beau­ children, but her survival plan is flawed din, had confidently assured him that and all of their lots will prove to be mere such plaudits for a film at Cannes guaran­ flotsam in the tides of fate. teed a European director or actor work In the 12th and final tableau, she is left for half a dozen films at least. All they had to haul her heavy burden alone and in to do was go back and wait for the phone dignity across the stage, a heavy symbol to ring. of hope against adverSity, loss and im­ But nothing much changed. Finding fi­ perfect humanity. nancial backing proved as hard as it al­ Here is what noted theatre critic ways had been, and Beaudin had to re­ Marianne Ackerman wrote of that per­ turn to filming commercials to finance formanc~ : his next film - which he could not start "From the set to music and individual until five years later. performances, it is a magnificent Mercure had a few roles offered her in achievement which lingers in the the wake of the publiCity, none of which mind, a standard against which future panned out with any semblance of the riflc person to work with - efficient, ut­ looking seemed to be deflected away, as productions can be judged. Barring success achieved withJ.A.. Martin. They terly professional, yet wonderfully warm if mere polite words said in kindness. It some unimaginable surprise, Moni­ included La Chanson de Roland and friendly. I was delighted to find out is only when I commented on the que Mercure is the Mother Courage (1977) by Frank Cassenti, an experience how approachable she was." daughter'S good looks that she swelled of her generation." Mercure would just as soon forget, for Filmmaker Louise Carre, who recently with pleasure, her face shining with the shoot was one long exercise of isola­ directed her in Qui a tire sur nos his­ pride. tion from both director and crew - toires d'amour? (1986) agrees. "You There were moments during our in­ exactly the way she doesn't like to work. know, I like Monique. For all of her terview when a mere transcription of She was also cast in Contre Coeur achievements, she doesn't have one words could not do justice to what was (1979), where director Jean-Guy Noel speck of snobism. She is a true profes­ really being said. When I asked her if was hoping a 'name' star would help save sional in every respect. You can tell she there had been any changes in her a weak script. It didn't. works hard at what she does. career after her spectacular win at Can­ Throughout those years, friends were "PhYSically it was a difficult film for nes, there was a drawn pause that was recommending that she cash in on her her to do. She was on a severe diet and almost painful in length, pregnant international fame for a lucrative career she kept to herself in her dressing room with meaning yet unfanthomable, be­ elsewhere, where the action was. She during the lunch breaks, alone with her fore she answered in a very small voice: would have none of it. "I was afraid to diet-food. She also had to do a stunt on a "No, not really. " leave my country. I have enough of my trapeze. You know, we never did suc­ I talked about filmmaking in this actress insecurities without the insec­ ceed in having her do that stunt during country, and about our star system, urity of starting somewhere else where the run-truoughs. It was just too dif­ and then she laughed. "Oh, I'm not a everyone is a stranger." ficult." While hanging from a' swinging 'star'. We don't have a star-system here Robert Altman, casting for his Quin­ trapeze, Mercure was supposed to turn in Quebec, not for film. You know, tet (1978), was almost embarrassed to to an upside-down position and hang when you think Of a 'star' in a 'star-sys­ ask her to playa small role in his film , from the knees 'as the trapeze made arcs tem~ you almost require a 'star's-way­ feeling it was beneath her 'stature' as an above the heads of the crew, all this of-life': to have your love life in all the actress to have such a brief appearance. without a stunt double. ''Yet when we papers, to be constantly jet-setting to She is reputed to have replied: "I have no got the camera rolling, wouldn't you your different palazzos everywhere stature - I don't think in those terms. I know it she got it right the first time." from Italy to Hong Kong. am glad to work with you." Pierre Mercure died in a car accident, "We don't have rich actors or actress­ In a way, this stature remained like a and when she herself was hospitalized es in Quebec, the kind we associate with weight around her neck. For years Mer­ from a 1982 automobile mishap she stars. So you can't come and visit my cure longed to work again with Beaudin, spent a great deal of time in her hospital swimming pool, I don't have one; my but Beaudin could not or would not ask bed, talking to friends and remembering. Mercedes is not here because I don't her for less than a leading role. His films In her life she had appeared in close to have one; and my love life. .. wel~ that's that followed J.A. Martin, Cordelia 30 films, more than 60 plays and several very poor also!" And she laughed, the (1981) and Mario (1984), had leads of more television dramas and specials. She years falling in her glee. a 26-year-old and a 10-year-old, respec­ talked about Brecht. She now wanted to "Look, people don't rush to see a cer­ tively. do his most famous play Mutter Cour­ tain actor in a movie here, they go see a . Unfortunately, with the ticking of the age und ihre kinder (1938). It was im· film." clock, the roles available to Mercure are portant. So what's in the future for Monique growing fewer and fewer. With today's Mercure? "Oh, I don't know. I'd like to accent on youth, the good roles available work with Beaudin again, because it was a fantastic encounter. Just before I left she stopped at the to women of Mercure's age group are One thing that struck me about Mer­ piano and played for me, from rare (exceptions like Dancing in the cure's apartment was the lack of any "In the meantime, I make my living through the theatre. But I'm ready. I've memory, a beautifUl piece by Dark notwithstanding), and even visible souvenirs to remindyou that she Mozart, She showed beautifUl con­ though Mercure has a natural youthful is an actress. There are no posters ofany always prepared myself to be good in movies. At one point I wanted to do trol of the notes, her soft hands glid­ look and exuberance, to use the par­ of her films on the walls. There is, how­ ing easily over the ivories. "Some­ ever, a wall full ofphotographs offam­ only that. . . " lance of a director of photography: "the times I wish we actors could prac­ camera does not lie." ilyandfriends in her kitchen. These are tice and develop our instruments Still, Mercure has appeared in memor­ purely souvenir snapshots, mostly old like musicians do. a musician able films during those years. UneJour­ and worn at the edges, mementos ofthe If doesn't practice at least two hours ~ nee en taxi (1981) by Robert Menard years that made up her life. In one she ercure did get her wish to play and Claude Jutra's fmal film, La Dame is a teenager on a beach, looking at the Brecht's Mother Courage, at the day, his fingers get 'rusty ~ Actors en couleurs (1986) come to mind. She camera simply, yet resplendant in the MTheatre Denise Pelletier, a grand need to become apostles to their ef­ was directed by Ted McLuhan (daugh­ beauty of her youth, her legs long and theatrical institution in Montreal and tlle forts, because being creative is very ter of Marshall McLuhan) in The Third her smile disarming. scene of many former triumphs. very difficult. It takes much tim; Walker (1978), and of Mercure's par­ All my comments to her about how I The story of the play is that of Anna and effort, much passion, and a ticipation McLuhan said, "She was a ter- found her still beautiful and youthful- Fierling, a tough but flawed widow who great deal of love." •

September 1987 - Cinema Canada/25