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Director
Jacques Vallée
Producer
Pierre Lamy
Writer
Jean-Pierre Ferland, Michel Garneau, Jacques Vallée
Cast
Jean-Pierre Ferland, Anne Dandurand, Danielle Roy, Jacques Thisdale
Julie is the daughter of Eddie, an impresario who manages the career of Paul (Jean-Pierre Ferland), a hyperactive pop singer. From an early age, Julie, a difficult child who has been forgiven everything since the death of her mother, falls in love with Paul. The love of a child gradually turns into a real adolescent obsession, then into adult desire. Unfortunately for her, Paul loves all women, but none in particular. Above all, he loves his freedom and making music. While Paul is spending time at his farm in Saint-Norbert working on arrangements for new songs with his group of musicians, Julie unexpectedly arrives with a motorcycle gang and crashes at his place for a few days. The result of this stay was a song, "Vivre à deux", which is sure to be a hit. But then came the day when Julie had to leave again.
A melodrama with surrealist overtones, CHANSON POUR JULIE, written, performed, and set to music by the late Jean-Pierre Ferland, has become an invisible film over the years. Released timidly in April 1976 by Cinépix on two screens in Montreal (the Parisien and Laval cinemas), the film quickly disappeared into oblivion and collective amnesia, since it has never been re-released in any format whatsoever, or even broadcast on TV. The film was shot in 1975, when Ferland was headlining Théâtre Maisonneuve in Place des Arts for three consecutive weeks, then launching the album QUAND ON AIME ON A TOUJOURS VINGT ANS. The production ended a few months before the legendary Saint-Jean-Baptiste show where Ferland shared the stage with Yvon Deschamps, Gilles Vigneault, Claude Léveillée, and Robert Charlebois. Yet the film went unnoticed.
This film should be seen today as a psychotronic curiosity, a time capsule offering the nostalgic pleasure of seeing Jean-Pierre Ferland in his own element (most of the film is shot on the singer's farm), in a strangely autobiographical role, and of being taken in by the soaring music he composed for the occasion with the participation of André Perry. The film is also memorable for François Protat's 16mm cinematography, with its many sumptuous shots. Too sumptuous for an acting style that aims to be both natural and offbeat, given the unbelievable dialogue. As you will have gathered, Jacques Vallée's only fiction film is a veritable UFO that is only seen with the naked eye once every 48 years. Only two prints were made, and you have a date with one of them, which has been cleaned, restored and digitized by Library and Archives Canada especially for this screening. – Translation: Rupert Bottenberg
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