Louise Portal’s long and rich career will be celebrated next Sunday at the Gala Québec Cinéma. The actress, who has starred in several great films in Quebec over the past 50 years, will be awarded the Iris Hommage 2022 award.
It is on the set of toro (1973), by Clément Perron, in which Louise Portal reinforces her passion for cinema.
At the age of 21, the young actress found herself for the first time participating in filmmaking of the kind, she mainly played in plays and television series filmed in the basements of the big Radio-Canada.
We were on the farm, putting clothes on the clothesline, Monique Lepage (La Gilbert) and I, and I discovered very close to cinema life.he says.
” It’s alive, it’s sensual, it’s smelling, there are smells. For me, it was a revelation. “
To capture the role of Gigi Gilbert, a young woman from a marginal family who suffers the resentment of the people in her village, Louise Portal believes she remembers her departure from distributing a play, which extremely worried about his parents, who feared for his reputation in the industry.
But for the actress, it is impossible to deny present of the first release on the big screen. When presented to you, you do not refuse. This is the ultimate gift in your acting career.he says.
A film passport for Louise Portal
A career followed by about sixty films, including some great wines from La Belle Province: Cordelia (1980), The Barbarian Invasions (2003), Paul in Quebec (2015) and, more recently, It’s raining birds (2019).
However, Louise Portal believes this is the film The Decline of the American Empire (1986)by Denys Arcand, who really elevated his career.
The decline is like a cinematic passport for me, he explained. The actress said the film opened the doors of foreign cinema to her, especially in France, where it was a huge success.
” I owe a lot and a lot of things to Denys Arcand. “
In the skin of his characters
Known for her great emotional commitment to her art, Louise Portal said she was particularly marked by the film Cordelia (1980), by Jean Beaudin, which tells the true story of Cordélia Viau, who was accused of murder and then sentenced to be hanged after a trial full of irregularities in 1899.
” It was as if Cordelia’s soul had taken over my whole being so that I could show her and bring her back into society. That’s how I experienced it, so intense “
Paul in Quebec (2015), by François Bouvier, as well The lovers (1993), by Johanne Prégent, is also included in the list of her most moving shoots.
meet up
After 50 years of cinema, television, drama, music and books, has Louise Portal changed?
I wrote in my thirties: “when I have tamed all the women I feel were born to me, I will know better who is in front of her mirror, cleaned.“, he says.
Since then, she has admitted that she has had many unique experiences in the course of her career as an actress.
” Twice I died hanging, I did one stripteaseI was raped, I loved with all my heart, I fell in love with David La Haye, with Patrice Godin, I saw Roy Dupuis’ butt … I saw the business! “
How I feel now, after 50 years, […] this is when I meet readers through conferences, book fairs … There are no more characters between me and the public. Now it was Louisehe concludes.
This text was written from from an interview by René Homier-Royhost the show Culture Club. Comments can be edited for clarity and brevity.
Source: Radio-Canada