She prefers the side roads to the motorway of fame, solitary rambles to the race for stardom. In the world of Quebec showbiz, Céline Bonnier is regarded as an idealist, an actress who shuns the personality aspect of her trade, the better to concentrate on her art. After a year’s sabbatical, she nose-dives back into the whirlpool of creation in 2004. At the cinema, she will play Machine-gun Monica in the first film by Pierre Houle, director of Omertà, which also stars Marc Labrèche, Patrick Huard and Roy Dupuis (due out in May 2004). But first, from 26th January, in the Théâtre de Quat'Sous in Montreal, she will tackle a solo performance inspired by the work of author Sylvia Plath. Two women, two tragic destinies (the first was killed at the age of 27 during a bank robbery, the second committed suicide at 30), and two perfect roles for an actress "who has difficulty playing happiness".

Arriving at our meeting, I did not recognize her. From one moment to the next, Céline Bonnier has the ability to transform herself. She ditches all her hairstyles, her outfits, both because of her fondness for originality, but also because she likes to go around unnoticed. Which is not always easy, being in a public line of work and having a star like Roy Dupuis for a boyfriend. Even before the interview begins, I feel that Céline Bonnier is going to fend off indiscreet questions, not out of defiance, but rather to maintain her integrity. In her view of the business, the star mustn’t steal the limelight from the artist. She became an actor to explore shady areas, to put herself in a state of instability. Celebrity is optional.

In a 15 year career at once intense and light-hearted, rigorous and eclectic, Céline Bonnier has delighted several directors and film-makers, from Robert Lepage to Charles Binamé, from Louis Saïa to Denis Marleau, by way of Dominic Champagne and Lorraine Pintal. "Céline is a blank page on which a director is able to write everything," says Jean-Frédéric Messier about his muse, who has collaborated on about a dozen of his creations. "She’s a great explorer," adds actor and author Marcel Pomerlo, who knew Céline in 1991 when she played in Quebec City. "She is an open and honest woman who takes total responsibility for her choices. Céline transforms herself so much between roles, I always feel that the character has been written specially for her."

The actress Marie-Chantal Perron believes that her great friend is primarily attracted by characters who are completely opposite to those that she's portrayed previously. "Céline is not a narcissistic actress who needs to be in the foreground; she serves the art." Moreover, in 2002, the Quebec Association of Theatre Critics gave her a special award "for her commitment, her thoroughness and her versatility", declaring that she "embodies the spirit of adventure of the Quebec theatre."

A Very Discrete Couple

In spite of the recognition of the public and critics, Céline Bonnier insists on keeping an element of mystery around her. She categorically refuses to speak about her private life and her relationships. Each time a journalist proves to be too curious, she politely closes the door. So let us simply remind ourselves of what is common knowledge: her boyfriend, Roy Dupuis, is one of the most attractive actors we know. They met while filming the TV series Million Dollar Babies in 1994. Céline has an apartment in downtown Montreal, but lives mostly in the countryside in the historic farmhouse that Roy Dupuis has renovated himself. And one day they would like to have children ...

The couple are not ones for going out a lot; and, except on rare occasions, Céline and Roy don’t attend public events together. When they do (like at la Soirée des Masques) they arrive one after the other, so as not to attract the flash of cameras on their arrival. So thoroughly that it seems that no snapshots of the couple have been published in the media. Except one. A colour photo which appeared last September, showing the loving couple in make-up and costume on the set of Monica la mitraille, where their characters are about to kiss. For once, fiction surpassed reality...

"I’m like a she-wolf protecting her privacy," she explains. "Am I being selfish? I don't think so. I quite simply don’t understand this need people have to appropriate the lives of celebrities, to take them over, to dissect every moment in order to know everything about them. Why must I talk about my boyfriend’s underpants?!" Hidden away in their refuge, open only to close friends, the couple appears almost anachronistic in this age of reality TV. While celebrities, new and old, are exposing themselves shamelessly, revealing much more than necessary, the two stars keep themselves to themselves. Like the characters of Réjean Ducharme (one of their favourite writers), the couple prefers to shield themselves from the wear and tear of the outside world by creating a parallel life, far from the hurly-burly of the media and the narcissistic jungle of cultural circles. "If I accept an invitation to a benefit dinner, I feel totally out of place once I’m there. I feel like an alien amongst all these beautifully dressed, beautifully groomed, well behaved people," explains Céline Bonnier. "There is a huge gap between my life and theirs. It’s as if I was the only person in the middle of a crowd who walks with a limp.” Basically, maybe that’s what an artist is - someone who has a limp and who finds his balance in creativity?"

A Bit of Eternity

Céline Bonnier  grew up in Lévis, a suburb of Quebec City. She is the youngest of a family of eight children raised with love and respect. Her father, a public sector administrator and Catholic politician, was open-minded enough to arouse an artistic streak in his children. What’s more, one of her brothers was a highly regarded musician - the late composer, Bernard Bonnier, who died in 1994. At the age of seven, little Céline liked to organize theatre shows in the neighbourhood playground, to the delight of her mother who was as tolerant as their father, and who encouraged her daughter’s imaginative side. "I listened to my brothers discussing with my parents. I watched everything that was happening in my family," Céline recalls. "I was like blotting paper. It was very stimulating. I wish that everyone could have a childhood like mine."

Fifteen years later, on graduating from the Conservatoire de théâtre de Québec in 1987, she joins Jacques Lessard’s Théâtre Repère. There she will have a crucial meeting with Robert Lepage. Thanks to him Céline Bonnier comes to Montreal to perform in Les plaques tectoniques and decides to settle there. In the metropolis, she switches between promising new works with the Momentum Group (of which she is a member with a handful of other actors) and the classics (El Cid); between precision work with a demanding author (Denis Marleau) and productions for mass audiences (Blanche, Le sphinx, Le masque ...)

Approaching her forties, Céline Bonnier is on the threshold of what can be an unproductive period, first wrinkles always, alas, being more visible on the faces of actresses than of actors. She is, however, confident, because she’s always on the lookout regarding her trade, always in search of an interesting challenge, as her two latest projects testify. Machine-gun Monica is a very complex character. "She was a tomboy who liked weapons, cars and speed (she could drive at 110 miles per hour in oncoming traffic!). But she was also very loving, a mother of  three and particular about her appearance, wearing elegant dresses and stiletto heels," she summarizes.

Less spectacular, Sylvia Plath’s life is just as difficult as Monica’s. Adapted from the seminal novel by the writer who died in 1963, the play of The Bell Jar will be directed by the talented Brigitte Haentjens, the Bonnier-Dupuis’ great collaborator in the theatre (she has directed Roy twice, Céline three times). The Quat'Sous production tells the story of Esther Greenwood, a young woman trying to write a novel whose life falls apart. This fictitious character recounts events experienced by Sylvia Plath in the 50’s: a nervous breakdown, committal to a psychiatric institution, electric shock treatment, a difficult mother-daughter relationship ...

Sensitivity, neurosis, marginality, criminality, injury and madness. Themes that do not frighten this strong and sensitive actress, who at the same time feels both on the margins of society and good about herself. What is it that drives her to play such tormented women? "I act to defy death, to overcome my fears," explains Céline Bonnier seriously. Then her beautiful blue/green eyes shine once again. "Art allows you to touch a bit of eternity. Then you realize that reality is a rather fuzzy concept, a substance, a dough that needs to be shaped constantly to improve it."

Outside, the sky is ablaze. Céline Bonnier can go back to the peace of her wild refuge. Reality will always need people like her or her boyfriend. Great actors who teach us to have better dreams.

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