The founder of Montreal’s Festival du nouveau cinéma Claude Chamberlan is swooning over his latest cinematic muse – Les Dames en bleu (Ladies in Blue) the Claude Demers doc he’s picked to open the FNC’s 38th edition Oct. 7.

Ladies in Blue is a portrait of five older women obsessed with a Quebec pop culture icon: crooner Michel Louvain, who made his mark in the 1950s and still has a fan base of thousands of adoring women. Louvain gave two sold-out concerts at Montreal’s Bell Centre in 2008.

‘When I saw it, I fell in love with the characters, they are so strong,’ the veteran programmer told Playback Daily with his characteristic effusiveness. ‘The film has extraordinary humanity.’

The title comes from one of the singer’s most popular songs, Les Dames en bleu.

‘For francophone women of a certain generation he was an icon, a myth. I wanted to find out why they loved him so much,’ says Demers. ‘For many of these women he is still the beautiful young man he was in the 1960s. He is their prince charming.

Demers said he first met Louvain — who is sometimes referred to as Quebec’s Wayne Newton — while filming his documentary about men and their barbers L’invention de l’amour, Barbiers — une histoire d’hommes. ‘I filmed Louvain getting his haircut and his manicure done, and I realized I was in the presence of a star. That image of him stayed with me and I wondered what impact he had had on women in our society.’

For the five women in Demers’ doc, Louvain and the fantasy of manhood he represents is central to their lives. ‘For their husbands, it’s like a ménage a trios [a threesome]. Their wives have made it clear that Louvain and his music will have a prominent place, including having photos of him above their bed,’ explains the director.

Distributed in Quebec by Christal Films, Les Dames en bleu opens in theaters Oct. 16. The 38th Festival du nouveau cinéma runs Oct. 7-18, 2009 in Montreal.