MONTREAL DIARY
Small Talks with local filmmaker
Small Talks is a portrait of Montreal drawn through conversations with fellow Montrealers. This is for those of you who believe that it is our differences that make Montreal the irreverent city we love. This week: Sophie Deraspe, 41,
Sophie Deraspe is a successful local filmmaker with two films out this year: The Amina Profile and Les Loups. We have been acquaintances for years, but this conversation reminded me that it’s easy to spend time with people without really getting to know them. Among other things, I learned that Deraspe and I share a philosophy of life: sometimes things work out best if you move forward a little blindly, without thinking too hard about the how of it all.
Q Tell me who you are? A I am discreet — secretive — when it comes to talking about myself … I feel I can legitimately speak about films and the things that inspire me, but as soon as I must talk about myself, I feel very reserved, so this ( interview) is sensitive for me.
Q Have you always lived in Montreal? A I was born in Rivière- duLoup, but Montreal always attracted me. I liked the eclecticism, the different cultures — even the grungy side of the city.
Q What would you change about Montreal? A I wish it were possible to inspire more boldness into the city, more audacity. Daring projects that push boundaries, whether environmental, architectural, etc.
Q What is taking up your mental space these days? A It’s to try to create an everchanging balance between all of life’s forces — friends, pleasure, work, family — to make all of it exist together in a sort of whirlwind, not in separate corridors.
Q You’ve had two films come out this year, you have a teenager and now, a newborn: How does that feel? A ( All) this appears to me as part of a natural continuum. I don’t think we need to stress too much about the future — obviously if I did I couldn’t have this career, and I would ask myself a lot of questions about having another child — because as soon as you evaluate consequences too much, you put on the brakes.
Q Is there a single event that shaped your world view? A My mother is a nurse and one night when I was about eight years old, I was supposed to be asleep and I could hear her with two colleagues … they were talking about the negative aspects of work — what wasn’t working. And I told myself: this cannot be what life is about — one can’t be unhappy at work and then discuss how unhappy one is at work, outside work. I refused to enter that cycle of: work is hard, life is hard, and we endure. Having said that, my mother isn’t a whiny woman ( laughs).
Also, I was in New York on 9/ 11. I saw the towers fall, I saw people jumping … and that put things into perspective for me, too: All that we take for granted is fragile — our health, our world, the lives of our closest kin. And life is precious here, now, in this moment. So let’s enjoy it and not dive into self- pity or complaining.
Q Is the world becoming a better place, or not? A I have to say a better place, because otherwise we become blasé, nihilistic. ... When we look at individuals, there is so much good, but when you look at the whole system. … Maybe we need a revolution for the system to completely crash, and put something else in place — but we don’t want that to happen, we don’t want chaos while we wait for things to get better.
Q What are you intolerant about? A I think there is a lot of blind selfishness around us. And at the same time, I live in a world ( film) in which the ego is valued, ambition, even a certain narcissism. But seeking a good life and love aren’t to be confused with seeking to possess many things, to win at any cost — for those things, I have no tolerance.
Q If you died tomorrow, what would your last thought be? A No matter what we’ve accomplished in life, all this counts only to ensure that our path in life isn’t too hard. Ultimately, what matters is how we connect with others, how we let others inside, to have had love in one’s life, the links we build with others.