Délivrez-moi

present
Délivrez-moi
(Forgive Me)
A film by
Denis Chouinard
Script
Denis Chouinard / Monique Proulx
Produced by
Réal Chabot – Coop Vidéo
Distribution / TVA Films
1600, Boul. de Maisonneuve Est / Montréal (Québec) H2L 4P2
Tél. 514.284.2525 / Fax. 514.985.2261
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SYNOPSIS
Having served ten years in prison for the suspicious death of her lover, Annie returns home to the small
town where she grew up. There she renews contact with her daughter, Sophie, now a teenager, and the
mother of the deceased, who cared for the child while her “real mother” was away. Annie must adapt to
life on the outside and overcome the demons of her past. She gets a job in a factory, finds an apartment,
and tries to regain control of her life. Sophie is of course itching with curiosity about this mother who was
once accused of murder and is now shunned by everyone who knows her story. Sophie tries to reconnect,
to breathe life back into a woman who seems to be drifting precariously. It’s not easy. The memory of the
gestures and the persistent calls of the dead are a terrible yoke. Forgive Me is a dialogue between this
spasm of life and the comforting pull that death can have on people who see no reason to go on living.
For Annie, the exorcism is unavoidable and she may not come out of it alive. But Sophie has all of the
resourcefulness and feistiness that make 13-year-old girls not only irresistible but strong.
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DIRECTOR’S PRESENTATION
“Forgive Me“ (Délivrez-moi) is my third feature fiction film, following “Stowaways” (Clandestins, Don
Quixote Prize, Locarno 1997; Golden Bayard for best film, Namur 1997, Silver Dolphin, best director, Troia
1998) and “Tar Angel” (L’Ange de goudron, Ecumenical Prize, Panorama, Berlinale 2002) and formally
perhaps my most ambitious film. Unlike the previous films, Délivrez-moi is anything but spectacular. It
does not feature the hijacking of an airplane to stop the deportation of illegal immigrants, or a huge
freighter buffeted by waves and secretly carrying a cargo of asylum-seekers in its hold. Instead, Délivrez-
moi presents three women of three generations, whom are separated by everything, yet bound by a
tragic event that rocked their lives ten years earlier. It is a story that could take place anywhere in the
world, in faceless small towns where nothing ever happens. I chose an approach totally new to me,
portraying a woman, Annie, who is not particularly intelligent, or subtle, or gifted. A prickly person whom
no mother would want to have as her daughter-in-law. Opening with Annie’s release from prison, the film
gradually reveals what led her there. Over its course we come to know this woman and the strength that
she harbours. With performances displaying the grace and faultless instincts of Céline Bonnier, Geneviève
Bujold, Juliette Gosselin and Patrice Robitaille, Délivrez-moi is the portrait of a woman who comes back
home and ends up shaking the foundations of everyone who crosses her path.
Denis Chouinard
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DENIS CHOUINARD
Director
Born in Montreal in 1964.
Between 1985 and 1998, Denis Chouinard wrote, directed or co-directed six short films. His first feature
film, Clandestins, co-directed with Nicolas Wadimoff, was selected for many festivals and won many
prizes. His second feature, L’Ange de goudron, was chosen as the opening film for the International Film
Festival of Montreal in 2001 and took the prize for best Canadian feature film as well as the Telefilm
Canada prize. The film also won the prestigious ecumenical jury prize at the Berlin International Film
Festival in 2002. Later that year, Chouinard directed the documentary, Voir Gilles Groulx. Délivrez-moi is
his third feature film.
REAL CHABOT
Producer
Spring 2005, Réal Chabot founded the film production company, LES FILMS DU BOULEVARD. The
company is presently developing feature film projects such as: Le Fils de Joseph by Simon Lavoie ;
Chasse-Galerie by Mario Bolduc, Meilleurs Vœux by Patrick Demers, Project « S » (collective work), Le
Prince de Miguasha by Carlos Ferrand and Little Helpers by Frédéric Ouellet and Stephane J. Bureau.
Producer Réal Chabot has also collaborated with Coop Vidéo de Montréal for the last 6 years on such
films as: dans les villes (Catherine Martin), Délivrez-moi (Denis Chouinard), starring Céline Bonnier
and Geneviève Bujold, which hit theatres May 2006; Que Dieu bénisse l’Amérique and Le Nèg’ (both
by Robert Morin), La Méthode Morin, (Philippe Falardeau), making of for Que Dieu…, Gaz Bar Blues
(Louis Bélanger) and Mariages (Catherine Martin). Réal is also developing with Coop Vidéo the project
The Timekeeper, based on Trevor Ferguson’s best selling novel. Louis Bélanger (Post Mortem, Gaz Bar
Blues) will be directing in the summer of 2007.
Réal Chabot has been working hard in the film industry for the past 25 years. Throughout the years, he
participated in many films (The Ultimate Weapon, L’Île de Sable, Le Siège de l’Âme, Matusalem,
Highlander III), TV series (Big Bear, Les Orphelins de Duplessis, Innocence, The Boys of St-Vincent,
Scoop IV), made for TV movies (Dernier cri, La Beauté des Femmes, Blanche, Le Jardin d’Anna, Shadows
of the past, L’Homme de rêve) and commercials.
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FORGIVE ME
Crew List
Director
Producer
Executive producer
Associate producer
Script
D.O.P
Production designer
Costume designer
Editing
Sound
Casting
Distribution
Denis Chouinard
Réal Chabot
Lorraine Dufour
Stéphanie Juanéda
Monique Proulx, Denis Chouinard
Steve Asselin
Patrice Bengle
Sophie Lefebvre
Michel Arcand
Claude La Haye
Nathalie Boutrie
TVA Films
Cast List
Annie
Irène
Sophie
Ghislain
Marco
Martine
Milan
Monsieur Déry
Madame Bissonnette
Céline Bonnier
Geneviève Bujold
Juliette Gosselin
Patrice Robitaille
Pierre-Luc Brillant
Danielle Fichaud
Grégory Lhady
Pierre Collin
Nicole Leblanc
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