MONTREAL — Teen suicide is tackled head-on in Tout est parfait, a feature by first-timer Yves-Christian Fournier and Go Films producer Nicole Robert (Québec-Montréal, Cheech) currently shooting in Montreal.

Along with several unknowns, the $4.2-million film stars Maxime Dumontier (Gaz Bar Blues) as a distraught 17-year-old whose four best friends follow through on a collective suicide pact without informing him. The narrative, which also explores skateboard culture, is the first screenplay by award-winning novelist Guillaume Vigneault — the son of legendary Quebec folksinger Gilles Vigneault.

Despite its melancholic narrative, the film is about life and hope, says Robert. ‘We are talking about suicide, but the principal character ultimately chooses to live,’ she tells Playback Daily. ‘It’s about someone who is in between adolescence and adulthood. It’s a film about emotions. It is sad, shocking, lovely and spectacular.’

Robert is pleased to be working with the writing/directing team of Vigneault and Fournier. Fournier is a former winner of Quebec’s filmmaking competition Course Destination Monde and Robert believes that Guillaume Vigneault is as talented as his father. ‘He has written an incredibly beautiful story,’ she says.

The producers wanted to use unknown performers, so they put a casting call out in skateboard parks and hangouts around Montreal. ‘We call this casting sauvage. We wanted to use real skaters. The approach is very realistic.’

Tout est parfait is distributed by Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm and also stars Chloé Bourgeois, Maxime Bessette and Jean-Noël Raymond-Jetté. Financed principally by The Harold Greenberg Fund and SODEC, the 28-day shoot began at the end of March. It will likely be released in the fall.