Trivia

Francis is the son of Quebec National Treasure Felix Leclerc (1914 – 1988), the renowned singer/songwriter. He is greatly influenced by the iconic Quebec filmmakers of the ‘70s and ‘80s, Brault, Perrault, Groulx and Jutra. Apart from his 2 feature films, he has made many music videos, particularly for Kevin Parent.

We know that the script for Mémoires affectives was submitted to Téléfilm Canada/Sodec three times before finally securing funding on the fourth attempt. A lesser known fact is that at one early stage the writers had the hero going to Russia to steal state secrets! Then they agreed to return to the more personal story. Despite this close call, Leclerc would like to ask the purse-holders to have confidence in filmmakers at the beginning, not the end. He thinks it’s very discouraging that they lay so much emphasis on the script.

He was also required to film 20 minutes of explanatory scenes. In the end, however, most of them never made it to the final cut. “The principle is simple: if Alexandre doesn’t know what’s happening, then neither do we. If he grasps something, then we do too. The resolution of the plot is very clear at the end. I love what I call “my reel 6” – it was a success.”

One of the real-life amnesiacs they consulted while making the film was a relative of producer Barbara Shrier, who lost 10 years’ worth of memory following a road accident.

Rosa Zacharie, who plays the part of Pauline the Policewoman, once played a similar role in the theatrical version of the Coen brothers’ film Fargo, which was called Frigo. She states that she felt intimidated by the idea of playing opposite Roy. “He is such a great actor that I asked myself if I was up to it. My apprehension dissolved the first day of filming.”

There is a theory that while many classic Quebec films were made in winter, modern films are now usually shot in summer, which Leclerc identifies as a Montreal-led trend.
Filmmaker Jean-Claude Labrecque : Shooting in winter represents an enormous risk. It costs twice as much, it’s a hundred times more difficult, the camera freezes and so does the crew. In short, you have to get it into your head that it’s not going to be easy.”

Producer Barbara Shrier reckons that $100,000 of the $3 million budget was spent in Charlevoix during the January 2004 shoot on such things as accommodation, meals, vehicles, props and local labour. The mayor of La Malbaie was understandably overjoyed, and extended a welcome to other productions.

Montreal-born photographer Heidi Hollinger spent the ‘90s in Russia where she is “widely credited with having revolutionized political photography in Russia. During her 10-year residence in its great capital city in the 90’s, her “non-iconic” portraits of leading politicians created new ways of revealing the psychology driving personalities.” See her site http://www.heidihollinger.com for some amazing photos of her with Gorbachev, Putin, Fidel Castro and the Dalai Lama. Voir commissioned her to create their Mémoires affectives cover with Roy and Francis Leclerc, a photo session so noteworthy that entertainment news programme Flash turned up to cover it. Roy admits to not having seen Heidi’s work before.