Thanks to the success of 1995This summer, Ricardo Trogi became the first Canadian director to cross the million-dollar mark seven times in box office receipts. Why are his films so popular? Because they are made for Quebecers, in the language we speak, he believes.
“I know what I could do to give them a little international touch, but when you do that, you take away the pleasure of the people here. I don’t want to do that,” confides the filmmaker from Quebec, who is spending the week in his hometown to chair the jury of the Quebec City Film Festival.
Ricardo Trogi recalls that from his first feature film, Quebec-Montrealthere was no question of his characters speaking international French.
“With the other two writers [Patrice Robitaille et Jean-Philippe Pearson]we decided that it had to speak the way we speak. At the time, there were still a lot of films in international French. I had the impression that the screenwriters and filmmakers wanted to be understood in Europe, even though it’s not even a language that exists there. When we saw films like Hatewe noticed that people talked differently in France than in international French. I wondered why people didn’t trust our language in Quebec.”
The luxury of aging on screen
His bet paid off. Quebec-Montreal has achieved cult film status in our country and his autobiographical series, now consisting of 1981, 1987, 1991 et 1995is reaching new heights of popularity. The latest installment, which opened on July 31, is approaching three million dollars in revenue.
The first three films are the subject of a special outdoor presentation, at Place D’Youville, Friday evening, as part of the FCVQ. The same exercise was carried out in France a few years ago.
“Seeing someone age on screen by almost 15 years in the same day is a real luxury in cinema,” he rejoices.
Until 2008?
After 1995what’s next? Ricardo Trogi says he’s thinking about telling the story of his beginnings as a commercial director in 1998. “I’ve thought about all sorts of things, like a film about immigration that would be called 1956 about my father, but ultimately it’s not the same thing anymore. I don’t know.”
Will he dare to go to the filming of 1981which dates back to 2008? “Quickly also, I would say that if I have to stop my series at a shoot, it would be that of Quebec-Montreal” he answers first, before thinking out loud about the idea of recounting his meeting with Jean-Carl Boucher, the man who plays him on screen, in 1981.
“It seems like a logical way to bring things full circle. It would definitely happen in the audition room.”
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