Friends & neighbors

Montreal – Quebec superstar actor Luc Picard is currently exercising his funny bone for the first time on screen in Vice Cache, a dramedy produced by Sphere Media Plus. Picard (20h17 rue Darling, Savage Messiah, Le Collectionneur) plays sex therapist Michel in this nine-episode, hour-long series for TVA, shot in HD. The series is budgeted at $760,000 per episode.

Written by Louis Saia (Les Boys, Histoire de filles) and Francois Camirand (Les Boys II & III, Histoire de filles), Vice Cache focuses on the therapist’s home life in a suburban enclave on the South Shore of Montreal. This French-language show follows the navel-gazing angst of five couples who live on the same crescent, and share the same neuroses of midlife and parenthood.

Michel is married to divorce lawyer Danielle (Nathalie Mallette, Grande ourse). Their neighbors are played by Sylvie Leonard, Christian Begin, Francois Papineau, Maude Guerin, Alexis Martin, Marie-France Lambert, Guy Nadon and Micheline Bernard. Each is experiencing his or her own ‘existential Vietnam,’ in a misery of riches. They dabble in plastic surgery, infidelity, real estate, gourmet cooking, art, gambling and medication.

‘We’re taking a look at the total lack of values in our rich society,’ says Jocelyn Deschenes (Tabou), the show’s executive producer at Sphere. ‘We’re always rushing and racing to try to find happiness – often without finding it. We have this ridiculous craze for youthfulness, to buy bigger cars, bigger houses. This frenetic race isn’t based on the right goals to achieve happiness.’

The 72-day shoot, which started May 22, is helmed by directors Saia and Claude Desrosiers (Tabou 2, Dans une galaxie pres de chez vous). The crew will shoot on location in various Montreal suburban centers. Vice Cache will air on TVA in winter 2005. Joanne Latimer