Le Collectionneur is one of Quebec’s biggest box-office successes of 2002 and, as a commercially driven film, marks a departure from Montreal director Jean Beaudin’s traditionally politicized fare. The film has earned Beaudin his third Genie nomination for best director.

In more than 30 years directing, the Montreal helmer has covered some pretty weighty and political subjects: the experiences of a young autistic boy in Mario; a rape victim seeking revenge in Souvenirs intimes; and a community’s moral judgment of an unconventional woman in Cordelia.

‘[Le Collectionneur] is a very different film from others I’ve made. It’s a psychological thriller, but it’s also a commercial film,’ says Beaudin. ‘We wanted to do it in a way that was spectacular.’

Beaudin’s films have received a total of seven Genie nominations over the last two decades, three for Cordelia (1980) and one each for Mario (1985), Le Matou (The Alley Cat) (1986), Being at Home with Claude (1992) and Souvenirs intimes (1999).

Based on a novel of the same name from Canadian novelist Chrystine Brouillet, Le Collectionneur tells the story of detective Maud Graham’s search for a serial killer who dismembers his young female victims then reassembles body parts. Meanwhile, Gregoire (Lawrence Arcouette), a young male prostitute whom Graham regularly shelters, brings Frederic (Charles-Andre Bourassa), a 12-year-old runaway, into Graham’s home while she is trying to solve the increasing number of gruesome murders.

Graham is played by Maude Guerin (La Part des anges) and the killer by Luc Picard (nominated for Savage Messiah). Beaudin says Picard had been looking for a role that would allow him to explore a darker character. ‘He has always played good guys…and the development of the killer’s mind in the film matches perfectly with what psychiatry knows of serial killers.’

Throughout his career, Beaudin has always been meticulous about casting. ‘You have to keep looking until you find the right person, because it is impossible to make something interesting or good if you don’t have the right actors to play it,’ he says. ‘There’s always something, a color that somebody has and others do not. It’s got nothing to do with acting…but when you know you’ve got the right person, you know exactly what you were looking for.’

Christian Larouche and Ginette Petit of Christal Films in Montreal produced the $5.3-million suspense thriller, which was shot in the spring of 2001 and released in early 2002. Domestic distribution is through Christal Films Distribution, with Lions Gate handling worldwide sales. (The film has yet to be picked up internationally.)

Le Collectionneur earned close to $1 million at the box office in Quebec, which is amazing, says Beaudin, ‘especially considering that the feature is not a comedy. People [in Quebec] love comedy, but for a drama, I think it’s kind of unusual to make that much money.’

Beaudin approaches each new film as if it were his first. ‘The day you start to think that you know how to do it, I think it’s very, very dangerous,’ says the helmer. ‘I’m very instinctive, I don’t try to impose anything. It’s the story that tells you the style.’

Beaudin, born in Montreal in 1939, says he was not supposed to become a filmmaker. In his early twenties he pursued a fine arts degree in Zurich, intending to become a painter. While there, a fellow student from Quebec encouraged him to look for work at the National Film Board.

When Beaudin returned to Montreal, he started drawing animation backgrounds at the NFB, and he has been associated with the Board for 17 years now. ‘At that time, there was no private film industry whatsoever,’ says Beaudin. ‘Everybody who wanted to make a film had to start at the NFB.’ Films Beaudin has produced through the NFB include Mario, Cordelia and Dear Theo.

Beaudin is waiting for the final green light on his next project, La Nouvelle France, a $25-million feature being produced by Melenny Productions’ Richard Goudreau (Les Boys). It is a love story set against historical events of 1759, when the British took over the continent and women were being accused of and punished for witchcraft.

‘At that time all women who were standing on their own two feet and facing men in the political system were [quickly] compared to evil women,’ he explains. ‘But it’s a beautiful love story and the politics are just a background.’

Le Collectionneur’s additional nominations include Michel Cusson for best original score, overall sound and sound editing.