SPECIAL PRESENTATION: C’EST PAS MOI, JE LE JURE!

Director/Screenwriter: Philippe Falardeau
Producers: Luc Déry, Kim McGraw
Production Company: micro_scope
Cast: Antoine L’Écuyer, Suzanne Clément, Daniel Brière, Catherine Faucher, Gabriel Maillé
International Sales Agent: Films Distribution

There are high expectations for award-winning Quebec director Philippe Falardeau’s $4.8-million auteur flick C’est pas moi, je le jure! (It’s Not Me, I Swear!) and its world premiere at TIFF.

It is ‘one of the best films of the year,’ according to TIFF’s associate director of Canadian programming Steve Gravestock, who praises the at-times comical tale about the breakdown of a family.

The 40-year-old Falardeau is no stranger to TIFF – his first feature, La moitié gauche du frigo (The Left-Hand Side of the Fridge), picked up the Citytv award at TIFF 2000, and he returned in 2006 with crowd-pleaser Congorama, which garnered best picture at Quebec’s Jutra Awards.

And Falardeau is back with C’est pas moi, set in the turbulent 1960s, and based on two semi-autobiographical books by Bruno Hébert, the son of well-known writer, civil liberties advocate and senator Jacques Hébert, who died last year.

After Madeleine (Suzanne Clément) leaves her family, the desperately lonely 10-year-old Léon (Antoine L’Écuyer) makes much trouble for his father – including slashing open his chest with a knife and feigning an accident so he doesn’t get in trouble for staying out all night – and falls in love with a young neighbor, Léa (Catherine Faucher).

‘I have been wanting to make this film since I first read Bruno’s book in 1997,’ Falardeau tells Playback in the offices of micro_scope, the Montreal production company reputed for its commitment to edgy independent film.

‘I was attracted to the story because it’s not like my other films – it’s not political or conceptual,’ says Falardeau, adding that he was inspired by the 1985 Swedish film My Life as a Dog (1996) and François Truffaut’s Small Change (1976).

‘I wanted to explore that kids can have metaphysical questions by making a film from the point of view of a child,’ says the director. ‘And I’m also interested in the fact that boys of that age have an incredible amount of energy that they don’t know what to do with. Léon is dealing with divorce, love and thoughts of suicide, and he needs to express himself, so he makes trouble.’

Falardeau’s film is the second at TIFF loosely inspired by the breakdown of the Hébert family in the 1960s, which had some observers in la belle province questioning the wisdom of film funding agencies.

In fact, Léa Pool’s Mama est chez le coiffure (also at TIFF) is based on a screenplay from Bruno Hébert’s sister, Isabelle Hébert.

‘I was initially a bit concerned until I saw Pool’s film,’ says the director. ‘But they are completely different works. ‘C’est pas moi, je le jure! is definitely darker,’ he notes.

‘We knew about Pool’s film,’ says micro_scope’s Luc Déry, ‘but C’est pas moi is an edgier film. It’s a different approach.’

The target market for C’est pas moi is adults between the ages of 20 and 50, explains Déry. ‘We are making an effort to reach men. We want to sell the idea that Léon is a bit of a delinquent, a kind of Denice the Menace character.’

Marketing in Quebec has been rolling out for months.

‘The teaser has been out since Christmas and the trailer for the last two weeks. People are definitely aware of the film,’ says Déry, who has modest box-office expectations for the film – about $600,000. ‘If we hit $1 million, that would be great,’ he adds.

C’est pas moi is scheduled to be released on 40 to 50 screens across Quebec on Sept. 26. However, Christal Films (which has declared bankruptcy) currently holds the rights. Déry says they are in the process of transferring rights to Seville Pictures.

Quebec publisher Boreal will also re-release the two books upon which the film is based, C’est pas moi, je le jure! and Alice court avec René, this fall.

Micro_scope is hopeful that its international sales rep, Films Distribution, will entice buyers from around the world. ‘We are really pleased that they are on board,’ says Déry. ‘They distributed C.R.A.Z.Y., so we’re happy they like the film.’