In the last third of Menteur, a fanciful comedy written with Éric K. Boulianne and Sébastien Ravary, Émile Gaudreault had sown the seeds for a possible sequel. “It was really an accident because we had another ending that we shot. During editing and public screening, we realized that it was a flash and that people were stopping, that they were angry at the end,” says the filmmaker we met in Longueuil on Thursday afternoon.
“I’m wary of flashes and as I wanted people to like my film, we removed it,” he continues. I had a lot of anxiety because I didn’t have an oumpf at the end. In a sleepless night, I remembered that we had a liar and monks at the beginning of the film. So we edited extracts that we hadn’t taken and brought Anne-Élisabeth back to shoot a new scene, which became the end. »
Blonde of Phil Aubert (Antoine Bertrand), twin brother of the compulsive liar Simon (Louis-José Houde), Virginie Gauthier (Anne-Élisabeth Bossé) admitted to having cheated on Phil with Sandra (Marie-Lise Pilote), to having lost then won their RRSP poker, being a poacher and having an Instagram account of dead rabbits. In short, beneath her wise exterior, Virginie hid a double life.
“The sequel was not planned, but it happened by chance,” explains Émile Gaudreault. If the film hadn’t been successful, we would have made do with the little wink at the end. With Érik and Sébastien, we quickly started writing the sequel. »
“In Menteur, there wasn’t really a common thread in his lies,” recalls Anne-Élisabeth Bossé. In Menteuse, we start a little fresh, there are things that we set aside. Ultimately, it is the feminine lie, although many men will recognize themselves in it. Virginie doesn’t lie to exaggerate her prowess; she is truly humble. She can’t bear to say something that will make the other person uncomfortable, hurt them; she wants to reassure excessively and she seeks balance. He is the child of a divorced couple who suffers from eldest daughter syndrome. »
If Menteuse allows us to explore the female psyche, it is still three men who pen the screenplay. “Catherine Léger, who is a genius that I revere, is always a reader in all my films. Anne-Élisabeth, who is also brilliant, followed the process from the beginning. The character was written for her, but there’s also me in it. For me, actors are also collaborators. With Éric and Sébastien, we are able to plan ahead. And then, I’m gay, I know that, the feminine! “, defends the director, laughing.
“The quest of the film is to really find who she is and to accept that she has no control over what happens around her. That speaks to me a lot and I am very proud of what we tell in the film,” sums up the actress.
Virginie will live the same experience as her brother-in-law, that is to say that her lies will become reality in a parallel universe. After helping his brother save the world, Phil will this time have to save his relationship.
“Phil is the only one who remembers that we all almost died because of Simon’s lies, so he’s quite nervous,” says Antoine Bertrand. In addition, he discovered that his girlfriend was a powerful liar, but she ignores all that. So he doesn’t want things to change again. I find that in Menteuse, the common thread is stronger in terms of emotion, there are several issues that are true throughout all of that. »
Rather than reestablishing the truth, Virginie sinks into lies, which has the effect of creating a multiverse where each new lie affects the personalities of the different characters, including Phil and Chloé (Catherine Chabot), who had previously guided Simon in parallel reality.
“With a canvas like that, we can go anywhere,” says the actor. In the first movie, Phil was the unluckiest guy on Earth, but here, there’s a multiverse where he’s a drama queen and in another, a retarded teenager. The good thing is that we don’t need to re-explain the convention, so right from the start, boom! we go into action. »
If Louis-José Houde preferred to skip his turn for Menteuse, several actors are back. Véronique Le Flaguais and Luc Senay reprise the roles of Claire and Georges Aubert, Phil’s parents, while Didier Lucien returns in the shoes of Dominic Dufour, to whom Simon had given a bad time. Newcomers include Pierrette Robitaille and Rémy Girard, who play Louison Hébert and Serge Gauthier, Virginie’s parents, as well as Monika Pilon, who plays Julie, Virginie’s younger sister.
“I created a family of actors over the course of the films. I really work with gifted people, people who were born to perform comedy, who are deeply funny and who work hard to tell the truth. It’s a very fanciful film, but with them, we believe in it,” concludes Émile Gaudreault.
