CLASHING IDEAS ABOUT FEMINISM FUEL QUEBEC-MADE DARK COMEDY
In Baby- Sitter, Cedric’s sexist joke goes viral and he loses his job Hydro- Quebec. Seeking more time to write a book inspired by the incident with his journalist brother, Cedric and his partner hire a babysitter. But the babysitter has her own ideas about political correctness in the #metoo era.
Postmedia talked to director Philippe Lambert about Catherine Leger’s 2017 hit Quebec comedy.
Q How well did it do in Montreal? Did it play to packed houses, get great reviews, that sort of thing?
A All of that. It played for a month. And then we had another two weeks during the summer. It was the only time we could find another two weeks. It was so packed and everyone wanted to see it. Then we went on tour last spring and fall. A lot of (Quebec) theatres outside of Montreal were interested. When they knew just the plot, before the play even existed, they were like “we want that.”
It’s very surprising. It starts slowly, but after 15 minutes it goes up and up, from one surprise
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to another. It’s very strong the way it’s done. It’s about feminism if you want, but in the wider sense she (Catherine Leger, the playwright) explores the definition of feminism. She takes it, rips it apart, takes it somewhere else. It’s very, very witty.
Q Apparently, there was a specific incident that inspired the Baby-Sitter. Do you remember it?
A It’s very clear. Do you remember that trend where when a woman journalist was doing an on-camera appearance, a guy would come on camera behind her? That happened here, with a guy who said “f--- her in the p----.” And so one (male) journalist here in Montreal talked about how it is to be a woman and every second when you’re outside your house you can be threatened. She (Leger) didn’t agree with that. How come a man can talk about what it is to be a woman? The plot started like that, with a guy who does this with a friend for fun at a soccer game. And it’s live and it’s on YouTube and a lot of people are laughing at it and he’s quite a bit vain about it. And his girlfriend’s like, “why did you do that?”
His brother is a journalist and starts to tell him off and tells him he has to change. He starts helping rehabilitate him, to become more feminist.
They start writing a book to apologize to every woman. The journalist gets into it too much. And the wife is looking at them like, “what are you doing, guy?” And they start digging into their past and thinking it was the way they were brought up by their mother, and that’s why he (Cedric) is a moron.
And the fourth character is the young babysitter he hires. She has a very different opinion. She thinks it was funny what he did to that woman. So the guy doesn’t know what to think. One side is his wife and his brother telling him he’s a moron, and on the other this young girl is saying, “yeah that was funny, and women should make more jokes like that.”
Q Will people leave the theatre more or less confused over political correctness after seeing this play?
A Maybe more confused. You will have more questions. I don’t think it’s a bad thing. What she (Leger) tried to do is to show that it’s subtle. When you think it’s the right mindset, sometimes if you dig a bit more, be careful because it’s not that. And the character of the journalist is full of prejudices. He thinks he knows everything. But first, they will have a good time. They’ll laugh about it. But it’s a dark comedy.