Film Resource Kit
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FILM RESOURCE KIT 1991 PLOT SYNOPSIS p1 BIOGRAPHIES p3 FUN FACTS p5 INSIGHTS FROM THE FILMMAKERS p5 AWARDS p5 ONLINE RESOURCES p6 PLOT SYNOPSIS The film starts by telling the story of how the protagonist’s grandparents met and fell in love in Italy. His grandfather had won over his grandmother with a pot of his delicious mushroom risotto. Narrator/protagonist Ricardo Trogi, a 21-year old screenwriting student from Québec, is convinced that Marie-Ève Bernard is the “woman of his life”. She signs up to go on an exchange program to Perugia, Italy to learn Italian and asks him to come along. It appears as though they are dating, but it’s unclear how seriously she regards the relationship. Ricardo decides he wants to go, if only to prove his love for Marie-Ève, so he brings it up to his parent. They question his ability to fund such a trip on a student’s budget. He convinces them he won’t rely on them for any money, so they allow him to go. His sister notices he has a growing bald spot on the back of his head, which causes him great anxiety. His mother insists he carry all his valuable documents, money, and belongings in a grey fanny pack. During his stopover in France, he sees an ad for anti-balding hair spray which he purchases and puts in his ever-expanding fanny pack before urgently getting on a train to Italy. On a wine-fueled train ride to Milan, he encounters a carefree but odd travelling musician about his age named Arturo, coming from Brussels. Arturo has no train ticket and asks if he can hide under Ricardo’s cabin. Ricardo reluctantly agrees and soon after, two female German students hitch a ride with him too, not knowing there’s another person under the cabin. Ricardo fantasizes anxiously about what it would be like to have a threesome, but Arturo reveals himself and instead the four of them have a fun sing along with Arturo and his guitar. From Milan, Ricardo travels to Perugia. But he realizes he’s running late to the university, where his girlfriend is expecting him. Stressed, he jumps on the wrong bus. He eventually gets off, deciding to just walk. Looking for his city map, he realizes his grey fanny pack with all his money and documents is missing. He recounts where he may 1 have lost it or who may have stolen it off him. He calls his mother, who becomes very upset and worried, and tells him to go to the police. At the police station, they tell Ricardo he will have to travel to Rome to the Canadian embassy to have his passport renewed. In Rome, he eventually gets his passport and traveller’s checks renewed. The officials at the embassy pay for his meal and recommend a student hostel. The hostel is full, so Ricardo settles with sleeping at the train station. He hears his old buddy Arturo playing the guitar, and finds him in the stairwell of the station with the two German girls singing along and drinking. The group spend the night touring around Rome, looking at old monuments and architecture. Arturo suggests he stay in Rome with him if he just wants to learn Italian. Ricardo reveals that he’s travelling to meet the love of his life, Marie-Ève, but that she doesn’t actually know how he feels about her and that they are not actually dating. Ricardo finally arrives at the University, having missed his first class and without his letter of confirmation. But he finds that another student found his fanny pack and delivered it to the university. He inquires about Marie-Ève, but she’s not around so he is paired with Mamadou, a French-speaking medical student from Burkina Faso, as his roommate. He needs to rely on his mother for money, due to the cost of his apartment. There’s a party at the school for all of the international students in the exchange program, but Marie-Ève is still not there. Having drank a lot the night before, he wakes up in the morning at his apartment after having casual sex with a girl from Greece named Yorda. Then, out of the blue, Marie-Ève arrives at his door. She is on her way to the train station, on a class trip to Florence. Ricardo accompanies her to the station, only to find out that she is going with her pot-smoking, male roommate. She asks him to do her a favour while she’s gone, and he agrees, though it makes him feel used. Depressed, Ricardo goes out for a night of drinking, eventually meeting up with Yorda and sleeping with her again. She is a romantic and is falling for him, but he is still in love with Marie-Ève. He decides to increase his efforts with Marie-Ève and vows to tell her how he feels, hoping she will be touched and reciprocate his feelings. He plans to woo her with a pot of mushroom risotto. He envisions this story as the plot of an old romantic black and white film to which he is writing the screenplay. 2 When he goes back to the Perugia train station to meet Marie-Ève upon her return, he instead finds Arturo and invites him over for dinner along with Mamadou. Having forgotten he invited Yorda over, he turns her away when she arrives at his door. Arturo and Ricardo are out drinking and talking, when Arturo abruptly tries to kiss Ricardo. Ricardo rejects him, and Arturo runs away. So Ricardo goes to Marie Eve’s house, assuming she will not return that night. He gets in her bed, and she returns home with her roommate. Hiding, he hears them giggling and having sex in the bunk bed above him. He runs out into the alley, Marie-Ève behind him, where his feelings for her are finally revealed. Though she considers him a good friend, she doesn’t love him back. Heartbroken, Ricardo catches a trip out of Perugia to his uncle’s house, where he promised his mother he would acquire his family’s famous mushrooms. He runs into Yorda, who is sad to say goodbye. She leaves him with her address in Greece, though expects never to see him again. On the train, he runs into Arturo again. Arturo asks him if he has finally found the love of his life. He says no, and asks him the same in return. The film ends with Arturo’s reply: that he prefers searching for the love of his life, rather than finding her. It becomes clear that Ricardo might have to let go of his idea of a soul mate and accept this romantic perspective on loneliness after all. BIOGRAPHIES Ricardo Trogi: Writer and Director Trogi was born in Québec City. His first two films, Québec-Montréal, about seven twenty-something travellers driving between the two cities, and Dodging the Clock (Horloge biologique), a look at three men and their decisions about having children, were both critical and commercial hits, with Quebec-Montréal receiving four Jutra Awards. His third feature titled 1981, a semi-autobiographical film about a boy's coming of age, was released in 2009; it was followed by the sequel films 1987 and 1991. In addition to film work, Trogi also directed the 2004-2005 television series Smash. 3 Jean-Carl Boucher as Ricardo Trogi Jean-Carl Boucher is a Quebecois actor. At only 19 years of age, he made himself known for his role as Diego Molina in the Télé-Québec show Tactik. He gained his first starring role as Ricardo Trogi in Ricardo Trogi’s 1981. This role garnered him a Genie Award nomination and a Jutra Award nomination, both for Best Actor in a Leading Role. Sandrine Bisson as Claudette Trogi Bisson is a Canadian actress from Québec. She won the Jutra Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2010 for her performance in 1981, and was a nominee in the same category in 2012 for Fear of Water (La peur de l'eau) and in 2015 for 1987, and a Canadian Screen Award nominee in 2015 for 1987. She has also acted in television and on stage. Juliette Gosselin as Marie-Ève Bernard Gosselin is a Canadian actress, she made her film debut in the 2004 film Battle of the Brave. In 2005, she was nominated for the Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role for her role in this film. Gosselin has played characters in films of various genres, including the drama films Familia, Tu dors Nicole, Kiss Me Like a Lover, and Boost, the horror films Martyrs, The Gracefield Incident, and the thriller films The Fall of the American Empire and The Hummingbird Project. In 2016 and 2017 she played the role of Martine in the 19-2 television series. She also played the character of young Yeesha in the 2004 video game Myst IV: Revelation. Claudio Colangelo as Benito Trogi Claudio Colangelo is an Italian-Québecois actor, known for 11.6 (2013), Welcome Home (2008) and 1981 (2009). 4 FUN FACTS Boucher plays Trogi in the trilogy of films (1981, 1987 and 1991), depicting writer/director Trogi at the ages of 11, 18 and 21 Although this is a bio-pic, Boucher was encouraged by Trogi not to worry about creating a super accurate imitation of him Ricardo advised Boucher to mind how many croissants and gelato he ate, which were abundant, while filming in Italy Trogi’s mother Claudette joked that he owes her money because her character in the film was everyone’s favourite INSIGHTS FROM THE FILMMAKER Trogi says he had no intention of turning his life into a trilogy when he first made 1981.