London Free Press TV Times
October 31, 1992,
"A Homespun Pas De Deux"
Emilie is a beautiful lyrical production. It is also slow-moving and the English has been
dubbed. Can it succeed away from its home?
By Alex Pugsley
It started with a book. In 1985, Arlette Cousture published _Les Filles de Caleb_ (Caleb's
Daughters), a turn-of-the-century love story based on her grandmother's life as a
schoolmistress. The novel sold nearly half a million copies and became the most popular
Quebecois novel ever. Five years later, Radio-Canada began broadcasting a 20-hour TV
series based on the book and the show became nothing less than a phenomenon. Les Filles de
Caleb averaged more than three million viewers each week - that is, half the
Quebec population - and established a record for a Canadian dramatic series. (Top-rated
shows like Cheers or America's Funniest Home Videos, by way of comparison, average about
two million viewers in the rest of Canada.) Les Filles has now been sold to networks in
Germany, Israel, Italy, South America, Spain, France and Japan. Rechristened
"Emilie", it makes its English-language debut on CBC Wednesday.
It's easy to see why Quebec went wild for the series. Everything in every hour is
beautiful: the scenery (it was shot on location in the picturesque Maurice region near
Trois Rivieres); the sets; the photography; costumes; music; and the stars. Indeed, much
of the show's success is due to the two leads, model-turned-actress Marina Orsini, who
plays the teacher as a youngwoman, and Roy Dupuis, who plays a slightly younger pupil with
whom she falls in love.
"We had great chemistry", Orsini says. "Roy and I had a great time. We
didn't know each other but, the moment we met, right away it clicked."Dupuis is the
more celebrated of the two - he is often described as Quebec's hottest actor - and the
star of the new film "Being at Home With Claude", as well as the French-language
TV series, "Scoop". A soft-spoken brooder in the tradition of James Dean and
Marlon Brando, he has worked almost non-stop since graduating from the National Theatre
School six years ago.
But it is the performance of Orsini as Emilie Bordeleau that anchors that series. Orsini,
whom English audiences may remember as Suzie Lambert, the sister of hockey star Pierre
Lambert in "He Shoots! He Scores!", plays Emilie with an intelligence and
vitality which is addictive. If the series does well abroad, she will become a superstar.
So far so good. The show does have two problems, however. For audiences raised on American
TV, the pace is deliberately slow. The characters develop over time, as in a 19th-century
novel, and the courtship between Emilie and Ovila (Dupuis) takes seven episodes before it
heats up with the pair going skinny dipping. It is more a series to be savored than
consumed.
Another drawback: the show is dubbed into English in an uneasy bid to obtain the widest
possible audience. But, as Orsini points out, "For television, it's impossible to
have subtitles. Of course we would rather kept the [original] color, texture, emotion and
tone, but it's a small screen, and you can't expect people to sit in their living rooms
and read for 20 hours." Thankfully, Orsini, who is fluent in English, French (and
Italian), did all her own dubbing, as did Dupuis. And, as maddening as the dubbing is, it
becomes easier to accept as the series goes along.
How will it be received in English-speaking Canada? No one expects the show to duplicate
its former success. "What hooked the people in Quebec," says Dupuis, "was
the novel, which was a best-seller. So they were waiting for it." English-speaking
Canadians may not have been waiting - and they are notoriously resistant to dubbed TV -
but "Emilie" is worth a try. If for nothing else than to see two international
stars in the making.
Thanks to Francoise for sending this :-)