'Follies' Courtesy of Locarno Film Festival Share on Facebook Share on X Share to Flipboard Send an Email Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Print the Article Post a Comment Prolific Quebec screenwriter and actor Éric K. Boulianne is ready to rise to the occasion at the Locarno Film Festival - again. In 2023, he won the best direction award for his short Making Babies (Faire un enfant) in the Swiss fest's Pardi di Domani section, which calls itself "a vital space for expressive experimentation and innovative forms of cinematic poetry." And now, the Canadian creative has just world premiered, in the Filmmakers of the Present program of the 78th edition of Locarno, Follies (Folichonneries), his feature directorial debut. The movie brings a hilariously awkward, sexy vibes to the fest, which traditionally has a reputation for presenting the latest arthouse discoveries. Related Stories Movies Oscars: Switzerland Picks Health-Care Drama 'Late Shift' as Best International Feature Submission TV How Renowned Films Hustles, Disrupts and Thrives With Shows on the Likes of Elvis Presley, Jeffrey Dahmer "François and Julie, together for 16 years and parents of two children, can no longer connect intimately," reads a synopsis for Follies. "They decide to open up their relationship in order to engage in sexual follies that will allow them to learn more about themselves... But it can't be that simple, right?" Boulianne has made a name for himself by writing such Canadian box office hits as Father and Guns 2 and Compulsive Liar. He decided to work on Follies, for which he wrote the screenplay with Alexandre Auger, based on a trend he noticed among his friends. "At one point, it seemed like every couple around me was in an open relationship," he explains in a director's note. "So I made this movie. It's not an exhaustive moral study on non-monogamy - it is a reflection on the modern couple and an ode to love." The ensemble cast, led by Boulianne and Catherine Chabot (Compulsive Liar, The Guide to the Perfect Family), also features Florence Blain Mbaye, Étienne Galloy, Sarah Chouinard Poirier, Simone Bellemare-Ledoux and Rémi St-Michel. The film, featuring cinematography by François Messier-Rheault, was produced by Coop Vidéo de Montréal. Check out a clip for Follies here. Despite his busy Locarno schedule, Boulianne sat down with THR to discuss Follies, shooting sex scenes - including ones involving nipple clamps and threesomes - and what may be next for him. Given that you have made such a name for yourself with writing and also acting, how is directing for you? I directed the short film, which was the blueprint of what I tried to do in the feature film. We were shooting the short on film and had a lot of nudity and intimacy scenes, so that was kind of a little tryout for what I wanted to do in the feature film. I thought: I'm a writer, I'm not a director. But it gave me a sort of confidence. I've written nine feature films, but to direct one seemed like this big mountain, which I was never to be able to do. And then Locarno came, the short gave me confidence, and it worked well. And I said, "Okay, let's do it!" With the feature, I just relied on the whole team. I'm directing myself and was asking the DOP and others a lot of questions, such as: "Was I okay?" I thought, let's just push through. And it was a beautiful thing. Follies really dances along that line between comedy and drama a lot. How did you and your co-writer know how to find that balance? It was really about pushing and finding that line. We have both been doing this for a long time. My vision of comedy has always been that it is on the verge of drama at any time. In the film, you're in a situation where you laugh, and then within a split second, it becomes dramatic. I feel that's life. It's just natural and just human. When I saw Kenneth Lonergan's movie Manchester by the Sea, there was this scene with the ambulance, and I loved that. You must find that line, and that was important for us writers. We've tried many, many times, and sometimes we have succeeded. Did you get asked whether Follies was a comedy or drama? All the time! In Quebec, when you ask for funding, you have to pick one. And they say: "So you're doing a comedy, okay, but we read it, and it's not that funny on the page." And I would say: "No, it's a comedy, but even if not, who gives a shit? But I tell you, it's going to be funny, and then it's not going to be funny sometimes. It's just the fucking film." That's what I was fighting with all my career to this point. But for this one, we didn't ask for funds in the beginning and just started with our own money. We had a small arts fund with our own money. Sex and relationships seem to be of interest to most people, but I don't always find them as interesting on screen as in Follies. Tell me a bit about what you find intriguing and appealing about those topics as cine