ÉMOND, MACKAY HONOUR ARCAN’S MANY SELVES
Director Anne Émond and actress Mylène Mackay are poised for career breakthroughs with the release of Nelly on Jan. 20. The impressionistic Nelly Arcan biopic is an unflinching look at the troubled life of the late prostitute-turnedauthor.
Arcan poured heart and soul into her semi-autobiographical writing. Her debut novel, Putain (Whore), became a bestseller in France and at home in Quebec upon its release in 2001. She wrote three more novels, while battling drug addiction, before committing suicide in 2009.
In other words, there’s ample fodder for a racy, multi-faceted film that just might be enough to lure people to theatres in the dead of winter.
Émond launched her career in 2011 with Nuit #1, an intimate drama following a couple over the course of a one-night stand. The film was marked by an extended, realistic sex scene, as well as lofty dialogue between the two central characters. Her second feature, Les êtres chers, dealt with the legacy of suicide in a rural Quebec family.
She brings her artistry to another level with Nelly, embracing the button-pushing potential of her subject while grasping at the ineffable.
Mackay is on fire in the title role, fearlessly incarnating the many sides of Arcan, each one personified as its own distinct character: the self-assured prostitute, the junkie, the insecure author and the media darling. It’s a star-making turn, the kind of performance that wins awards and leads to even bigger roles in bigger films.
The National Theatre School graduate was virtually unknown before 2016, when she surfaced in André Turpin’s experimental Endorphine and André Forcier’s Embrasse-moi comme tu m’aimes. Now she, like Émond, is ready for her close-up.
My wish for 2017: More femaledirected films like Nelly, with strong, complex roles for women. Considering funding agency Telefilm Canada’s new gender parity initiative — and with Quebec counterpart SODEC set to make its own announcement early this year — it might not be too much to hope for.