Director/writer: Catherine Martin * Producer/editor: Lorraine Dufour * Cinematographer: Jean-Claude Labrecque * Sound: Marcel Chouinard * Music: Robert M. Lepage * Diary by: Susan Tolusso

Director, editor and veteran producer Lorraine Dufour says she thinks the Toronto International Film Festival’s Perspective Canada programmers invited Catherine Martin’s Mariages to the festival precisely because ‘it’s not hip.’

Lack of hip-ness is not often cited as the reason why TIFF programmers invite films, but such is Dufour’s (Post Mortem, Requiem pour un beau sans-coeur) considered conclusion. Over the past decade, many of the films celebrated among the Canadian selections have assumed modern, cynical takes on sexual adventurism. Mariages is a period film set at the end of the 19th century, in which the study of the prevailing morals is as slow to unfold as the Victorian morals of the day.

‘I think it’s lovely,’ says Dufour, ‘for me, after 2000, to have a film that’s slower, that explores the awakening of sexuality and sensuality and the characters’ relationship to nature.’

Mariages is the debut feature for Martin, who has written and directed a number of shorter dramas (Nuits d’Afrique, Les Fins de Semaine) and a noted documentary (Les Dames du 9e).

The film begins in a summer when the 20-year-old lead character, Yvonne (Marie-Eve Bertrand), sees her familiar world unravel. The young country girl finds herself awakening to sexual desire at the very moment she perceives the ‘return’ of her mother (Mirianne Brule) who died giving birth to her.

Here is how the film came together:

1996: Armed with a story her mother recounted about a rural woman living through a romantic tragedy at the beginning of the 1900s, Martin secures a Canada Council grant to begin writing the first draft of the script. She works as part of a group called Les Films de l’autre.

1997: Telefilm Canada and SODEC contribute development funds, $8,000 and $10,000, respectively.

1998: Although the Les Films group of indie directors and producers typically produces its members’ films, once Martin has a first draft in hand, she approaches Dufour, who loves it. Dufour is ‘scared’ over the prospect of doing the film, but agrees.

1999: Although SODEC was ready to go into production after a second draft, Telefilm wants to see more work on the script, which proceeds.

Meantime, Martin wins a Quebec Film Critics Association prize for her Galafilm/National Film Board documentary Les Dames du 9e. Telefilm provides a $4,000 grant on the condition it be spent on a future project. Thus, more development is done on what would become Mariages. Quebec-based Film Tonic comes aboard as distributor. The eventual release plan is for theatrical, pay and then free TV.

2000: Production funds are approved, $200,000 from Telefilm, $573,000 from SODEC. Radio-Canada licenses the picture, which ends up with a $1.75-million budget. Other funders include the CTF’s feature film coffers, Super Ecran, and federal and provincial tax credits.

July 10 to Aug. 14, 2000: After scouting rural settings unspoiled by telephone poles, highways and modern conveniences, cost considerations force shooting to be located roundabout Montreal. The main house and forests are at Mascouche, another part of the set is at Beauharnois, river scenes are at Fulford, and a church is on the Kahnawake Mohawk lands. In five weeks of shooting, there are few problems except the dearth of sun and time.

‘We were trying to get this five-second stretch where no cloud would go over [the sun],’ recalls Dufour. ‘The weather was terrible last summer. The exteriors were hard. We tried to shoot them first each week, but ended up inside instead’ because of rain and cloud. ‘That was hard because the role of nature in the film – [with DOP Jean-Claude Labrecque seeking a ‘languid’ look] – was very important.’

Mid-August through October: Dufour edits at Animavision Montreal, sound is done at Bande a part, with picture lock at end of October.

March 2001: Shot on Super 16mm, Mariages is blown up to 35mm at Covitec in Montreal.

August 2001: The film receives its world premiere in official competition at the Montreal World Film Festival.

September 2001: Mariages screens in the Perspective Canada program at TIFF, then travels to the Vancouver International Film Festival. Dufour hopes it will launch theatrically at the end of September in Montreal.