In his new podcast titled Fall : Michel Bruleauthor India Desjardins recounts the journey and the escapades of the Quebec publisher, who died last year in obscure circumstances in Brazil, to make more general observations on power relations, toxic workplaces, the #metoo movement and psychological violence.
What kind of life should we live so that people will not believe in our death? This is the question India Desjardins asked herself and prompted her to take an interest in the history of this publisher, with whom she personally experienced a toxic working relationship, followed by a long conflict that affected to his health.
Mr. Brûlé, founder of Éditions Les Intouchables, was the first publisher of India Desjardins for its Aurélie Laflamme series of children’s novels. What started as a fruitful relationship ended in psychological violence, the man obviously didn’t want to be told no.
I’ve always wanted to make eight volumes of Aurélie Laflamme, I have a story in mind. Michel called me to continue, but I told him “no, the end is the end”. This is important to me artisticallyexplained India Desjardins on the show Penelope.
He didn’t take it and that’s where the problems started. Seems like small penalties: late payment, more books available, etc. And when I started fighting, the opponent was stronger than me […] I was told to talk about it in the newspapers, but when you talk about it, you will suffer the consequences. I was afraid he might destroy me.
Judge the cause, not the person
Note that Michel Brûlé was also convicted of sexual assault in October 2020, before disappearing to Brazil without receiving his sentence. It was there that he would lose his life, in a stupid bicycle accident, before paying for his crimes.
However, India Desjardins ’intention was not to redo the publisher’s trial, but to make its story the starting point for diagnosing social problems. I’m not studying a unique case, I’m studying a case that everyone can experience, and not just in the artistic or literary environment. How do situations arise where someone abuses their power?he explained to Claudia Hébert, cultural columnist at 15-18.
The author also hopes that her podcast will liberate speech and give victims the confidence to denounce situations of sexual or psychological coercion. He also says he has received several testimonies about Michel Brûlé since putting the podcast online on Tuesday.
By examining the archives, India Desjardins saw that Michel Brûlé had articulated leftist, feminist and social justice positions in the past as he saw her as a disillusioned and misogynistic man at the end of his life.
” The most I learned [en faisant le balado] it’s like we really want our villains to be bad and our victims are really angels when there are gray areas. “
We should judge the cause, not the person, as Suzanne Coupal told me [une juge à la retraite qui participe au balado] he added.
Michel Brûlé, dead or alive?
Although India Desjardins does not want his podcast to revolve around the mysterious death of Michel Brûlé, he will inevitably address the issue. And if he doubted that he was indeed dead at the beginning of his research, these doubts were gone.
I covered the conspiracy theories surrounding his death, which I sucked into myself.he admitted to Penelope McQuade. This is what I’m talking about [la procureure] I am Valérie Lahaie in evidence [qui m’a convaincue]. For a conspiracy theory to work, many people must be in secret.
In the podcast, we learn that Michel Brûlé was bipolar and he was probably in a hollow at the time of his death. “Sometimes people in a down may have suicidal thoughts, ”said India Desjardins. Suicide or stupid bicycle accident? There are answers we probably won’t gethe concludes.
The six episodes of the podcast Fall : Michel Brule is offered on the Radio-Canada OHdio website.
Source: Radio-Canada
