Leaving Everything
Leaving Everything - Pilot
Genre: Drama
Director: Marielle Heller
Writer: Ann Morrow
Cast:
Rebecca Hall …. Suzanne
Robin Tunney …. Anna
Lance Henriksen …. Francis
Phoebe Tonkin …. Claudia
Ryan McPartlin …. Achilles
Brenna Sherman …. Young Suzanne
Helen McCrory …. Marge
Blythe Danner ….Suzanne - Old
Plot: Anna (Robin Tunney) opens her mail on a grey Tuesday morning and there’s a letter stating that her grandmother died, so she’s summoned to her Ottawa apartment to take a look at her things and free the apartment. Anna hasn’t seen her grandmother in years, she saw her once or twice. She definitely remember when she waved at her at her mother’s funeral, but that’s about it and the moment they went to see her together in Ottawa, a meeting that lasted about two minutes, but that’s about it. She goes back inside and takes out the things she has from the mysterious woman that is her now deceased grandmother. She never failed to send a birthday card, she has one from her every year, with a little poem written on the inside, signed “Suze, XX”. Duty calls, so she gets in her car and leaves for Ottawa, as the rain hits her windshield.
Claudia (Pheobe Tonkin) is in line at the food bank with her husband Achilles (Ryan McPartlin) in Ottawa during the Great Depression. Her daughter Suzanne (Brenna Sherman) is irritating her, as she absolutely want a food coupon herself. She decides to give one to her to keep her quiet, as people around were irritated by her presence. Suzanne is now a happy little girl and she runs around, circling around people. She runs and runs and runs, as Claudia keeps an eye on her. A desperate looking man, tired of Suzanne’s behavior trips her and she lands in a puddle, ruining the coupon. Achilles confronts the man and they fight, until police arrives and separate the two. It’s their turn to enter and with a missing coupon, they don’t get enough to feed the whole family.
Anna says she’s an idiot for knocking at the apartment’s door, when she’s knows nobody will answer. She unlocks the door with the janitor’s help and enter the apartment. It’s simple and beige, but when you take your time to look closer, it looks like her grandmother had money. She looks around, no pictures of her, or from her family. The only framed picture she sees is her grandmother with another woman. It is written on the frame that the other woman is Hilda Strike, former Olympic silver medalist at the 100m, an oddity for sure. Anna looks in her things, but can’t find anything worthwhile. She stumbles upon a closed book, her personal diary. She reads it, as she wants to know who her grandmother was and why she left them behind.
When the family got back home to the other five children, Achilles, a former teacher forced to leave his job during the Depression, who now works as construction worker, takes it out on his wife, for trusting a little kid with something so important. Suzanne looks on, unfazed, she’s seen this scene many times. When the night comes, Achilles asks Claudia if she thought about his offer. He’s talking about the deal the Canadian government is promising to every family who has at least 12 kids. If they have 12 kids, they would be handed a field with a house on it and if they work the field, they would be able to eat and survive. She keeps refusing, she’s had six children and can’t think about having six others when they can barely live a decent life with the ones they currently have. She goes to sleep in the kids’ room in the bad she made there. When he started to beat her, she stopped sleeping with him. During the night, Suzanne is awaken by a noise coming from her room. Achilles carries Claudia back to his room and he closes the door.
Anna recalls the time she went to see her grandmother, after her mother Marge (Helen McCrory) tracked her down with the help of a private detective. In the ride there, she recalls that she was excited in the car ride to get there and her mother too. They pulled up in the parking lot and sat there silently. Even though they travelled all the way there, they’re not sure if they want to meet her. It’s Marge who breaks the silence by opening the door. She hasn’t seen her mother for a long time, she doesn’t even remember what she looks like. They knock on the door and when Suzanne (Blythe Danner) answers, Marge simply says “Hi, mom”. Suzanne seems a bit shocked, but lets them in. Anna presents herself, she’s her grandchild. They sit silently, staring at each other. Anna looks around and looks at the decor. It’s Marge who once again breaks the silence, she asked her mother why she left. Suzanne gets up and tells them to leave. Anna looks back in the apartment once last time before she leaves and now that she’s walking in the apartment once again, she realises that nothing has changed. When they were on their way to the car, Suzanne got out on the balcony and told her to never ask that question again. On the ride back, she remembered her mother crying, but she didn’t say a word.
Back in Suzanne’s childhood, a couple of months later, Claudia is giving birth to another child, even though she didn’t want it. The same day, Claudia decided to accompany her father to work. He’s a construction worker, but never did any construction. Today, his team has to pick dandelions of a field and they are paid by the number, so with the help of Suzanne, he brings home a record, but still low, paycheck. They do it again the next day and Suzanne is as close to her father as she’s ever been, but she doesn’t know the monster he really is.
Before she reads Suzanne’s journal, Anna takes a look at the other things in the box. She then learns that she has an uncle that she doesn’t know, and nobody ever talks about. He lives not really far away from here. She decides to go there, leaving her grandmother’s history behind her.
Suzanne always had an unhealthy obsession with Claudia’s piano. She recalls her mother still playing it, back when she was still smiling, back when she was happy. Since nobody’s home, except her siblings, she decides to lie on the piano, even if her mother strictly prohibited her from touching it. Speaking of Claudia, she’s once again pregnant, or her eighth child. She’s a couple of blocks away, with other women. She speaks about her experience with Achilles, about how he was nice and charming, but he changed. She retells the most difficult moments, when he beats her and when he rapes her. The women around her offer her contraception, but as they do, police raid the house and arrest the owner, for running an illegal practice. Claudia runs away, as she can’t believe her friend just got arrested for giving women contraception methods. When she gets back home, she’s surprised and horrified to see Achilles beating Suzanne. When asked why, he says she found her lying on the piano. Claudia urges her to stop.
Anna is surprised to see that the address is a hospital for the clinically insane. She asks at the reception for Francis and tell her to wait for a while in the lobby. When they finally call her name, she goes up a couple of stairs and anxiously enters a room, where her uncle, Francis (Lance Henriksen) is in a straitjacket and under constant supervision. She introduces herself and he doesn’t really listen. She tries to have a conversation with him, but he starts screaming at her. The guard takes him away from her and someone else escorts her back to the reception, where she asks to speak to Francis’ doctor. While she’s waiting, she takes out her grandmother’s first journal and reads it.
Her journey begins in Ottawa, when she finally leaves the house. With her parents approval, she leaves the city she was born in to study literature in Montreal. She waves them goodbye and leaves on a train. Suzanne (Rebecca Hall) is all smile when she finally sets foot in Montreal. Her real life begins now.
Genre: Drama
Director: Marielle Heller
Writer: Ann Morrow
Cast:
Rebecca Hall …. Suzanne
Robin Tunney …. Anna
Lance Henriksen …. Francis
Phoebe Tonkin …. Claudia
Ryan McPartlin …. Achilles
Brenna Sherman …. Young Suzanne
Helen McCrory …. Marge
Blythe Danner ….Suzanne - Old
Plot: Anna (Robin Tunney) opens her mail on a grey Tuesday morning and there’s a letter stating that her grandmother died, so she’s summoned to her Ottawa apartment to take a look at her things and free the apartment. Anna hasn’t seen her grandmother in years, she saw her once or twice. She definitely remember when she waved at her at her mother’s funeral, but that’s about it and the moment they went to see her together in Ottawa, a meeting that lasted about two minutes, but that’s about it. She goes back inside and takes out the things she has from the mysterious woman that is her now deceased grandmother. She never failed to send a birthday card, she has one from her every year, with a little poem written on the inside, signed “Suze, XX”. Duty calls, so she gets in her car and leaves for Ottawa, as the rain hits her windshield.
Claudia (Pheobe Tonkin) is in line at the food bank with her husband Achilles (Ryan McPartlin) in Ottawa during the Great Depression. Her daughter Suzanne (Brenna Sherman) is irritating her, as she absolutely want a food coupon herself. She decides to give one to her to keep her quiet, as people around were irritated by her presence. Suzanne is now a happy little girl and she runs around, circling around people. She runs and runs and runs, as Claudia keeps an eye on her. A desperate looking man, tired of Suzanne’s behavior trips her and she lands in a puddle, ruining the coupon. Achilles confronts the man and they fight, until police arrives and separate the two. It’s their turn to enter and with a missing coupon, they don’t get enough to feed the whole family.
Anna says she’s an idiot for knocking at the apartment’s door, when she’s knows nobody will answer. She unlocks the door with the janitor’s help and enter the apartment. It’s simple and beige, but when you take your time to look closer, it looks like her grandmother had money. She looks around, no pictures of her, or from her family. The only framed picture she sees is her grandmother with another woman. It is written on the frame that the other woman is Hilda Strike, former Olympic silver medalist at the 100m, an oddity for sure. Anna looks in her things, but can’t find anything worthwhile. She stumbles upon a closed book, her personal diary. She reads it, as she wants to know who her grandmother was and why she left them behind.
When the family got back home to the other five children, Achilles, a former teacher forced to leave his job during the Depression, who now works as construction worker, takes it out on his wife, for trusting a little kid with something so important. Suzanne looks on, unfazed, she’s seen this scene many times. When the night comes, Achilles asks Claudia if she thought about his offer. He’s talking about the deal the Canadian government is promising to every family who has at least 12 kids. If they have 12 kids, they would be handed a field with a house on it and if they work the field, they would be able to eat and survive. She keeps refusing, she’s had six children and can’t think about having six others when they can barely live a decent life with the ones they currently have. She goes to sleep in the kids’ room in the bad she made there. When he started to beat her, she stopped sleeping with him. During the night, Suzanne is awaken by a noise coming from her room. Achilles carries Claudia back to his room and he closes the door.
Anna recalls the time she went to see her grandmother, after her mother Marge (Helen McCrory) tracked her down with the help of a private detective. In the ride there, she recalls that she was excited in the car ride to get there and her mother too. They pulled up in the parking lot and sat there silently. Even though they travelled all the way there, they’re not sure if they want to meet her. It’s Marge who breaks the silence by opening the door. She hasn’t seen her mother for a long time, she doesn’t even remember what she looks like. They knock on the door and when Suzanne (Blythe Danner) answers, Marge simply says “Hi, mom”. Suzanne seems a bit shocked, but lets them in. Anna presents herself, she’s her grandchild. They sit silently, staring at each other. Anna looks around and looks at the decor. It’s Marge who once again breaks the silence, she asked her mother why she left. Suzanne gets up and tells them to leave. Anna looks back in the apartment once last time before she leaves and now that she’s walking in the apartment once again, she realises that nothing has changed. When they were on their way to the car, Suzanne got out on the balcony and told her to never ask that question again. On the ride back, she remembered her mother crying, but she didn’t say a word.
Back in Suzanne’s childhood, a couple of months later, Claudia is giving birth to another child, even though she didn’t want it. The same day, Claudia decided to accompany her father to work. He’s a construction worker, but never did any construction. Today, his team has to pick dandelions of a field and they are paid by the number, so with the help of Suzanne, he brings home a record, but still low, paycheck. They do it again the next day and Suzanne is as close to her father as she’s ever been, but she doesn’t know the monster he really is.
Before she reads Suzanne’s journal, Anna takes a look at the other things in the box. She then learns that she has an uncle that she doesn’t know, and nobody ever talks about. He lives not really far away from here. She decides to go there, leaving her grandmother’s history behind her.
Suzanne always had an unhealthy obsession with Claudia’s piano. She recalls her mother still playing it, back when she was still smiling, back when she was happy. Since nobody’s home, except her siblings, she decides to lie on the piano, even if her mother strictly prohibited her from touching it. Speaking of Claudia, she’s once again pregnant, or her eighth child. She’s a couple of blocks away, with other women. She speaks about her experience with Achilles, about how he was nice and charming, but he changed. She retells the most difficult moments, when he beats her and when he rapes her. The women around her offer her contraception, but as they do, police raid the house and arrest the owner, for running an illegal practice. Claudia runs away, as she can’t believe her friend just got arrested for giving women contraception methods. When she gets back home, she’s surprised and horrified to see Achilles beating Suzanne. When asked why, he says she found her lying on the piano. Claudia urges her to stop.
Anna is surprised to see that the address is a hospital for the clinically insane. She asks at the reception for Francis and tell her to wait for a while in the lobby. When they finally call her name, she goes up a couple of stairs and anxiously enters a room, where her uncle, Francis (Lance Henriksen) is in a straitjacket and under constant supervision. She introduces herself and he doesn’t really listen. She tries to have a conversation with him, but he starts screaming at her. The guard takes him away from her and someone else escorts her back to the reception, where she asks to speak to Francis’ doctor. While she’s waiting, she takes out her grandmother’s first journal and reads it.
Her journey begins in Ottawa, when she finally leaves the house. With her parents approval, she leaves the city she was born in to study literature in Montreal. She waves them goodbye and leaves on a train. Suzanne (Rebecca Hall) is all smile when she finally sets foot in Montreal. Her real life begins now.
Leaving Everything - Composition
Genre: Drama
Executive Producer: Marielle Heller
Writer: Ann Morrow
Cast:
Rebecca Hall …. Suzanne
Robin Tunney …. Anna
Tobey Maguire .... Marcel Barbeau
Adam Brody .... Jean-Paul Riopelle
Oliver Platt .... Claude Gauvreau
Colm Feore .... Paul-Emile Borduas
Odette Annable .... Marcelle Ferron
Lucy Hale .... Françoise Sullivan
Phoebe Tonkin …. Claudia
Ryan McPartlin …. Achilles
Brenna Sherman …. Young Suzanne
James Le Gros …. Doctor
Plot: 1942. A couple of years after the previous Quebec prime was ousted, arts were thriving in Quebec, after decades of repression. A man, Paul-Emile Borduas (Colm Feore) presents his first ever collection of paintings at a Montreal art gallery. The exposition is overlooked by the general public, to Borduas’ deception, but is a hit for a small portion of the population. Borduas wakes up one morning and is sad to see that there’s no mention of him in the Journal, or the Gazette. He takes his cup of coffee, and heads to the school where he’s teaching.
His small group of students is there and applaud him, for what they think was a successful exposition, but he’s unflustered, telling them to settle down so they can get down to business. His students, a bit older than your average student, were awakened when they found out about art and have quit jobs they didn’t like to study their passion with Borduas. Amongst them, Jean-Paul Riopelle (Adam Brody), Oliver Platt (Claude Gauvreau), Marcelle Ferron (Odette Annable) and Marcel Barbeau (Tobey Maguire) are frequently regarded as his best students. Borduas explains the basics of painting, as Suzanne (Rebecca Hall) silently listens next to the door, having just enrolled in the school.
When she was younger, Suzanne (Brenna Sherman) was not an ordinary kid. She didn’t act like an ordinary little girl. Whereas her friends stayed inside and played, she was running outside in the mud and the rain, getting herself all dirty, to the obvious disappointment of her mother. Claudia (Phoebe Tonkin), Achilles (Ryan McPartlin) and the rest of the family were getting ready to go to church, all dressed up and ready to go, but Suzanne just had to chase this butterfly. She tripped and fell in the mud. Achilles picks her up and gives her a good slap across the face, as Claudia urges him to stop. When they get to the church, Suzanne, not wanting to fall in line like the other kids, acts improperly, forcing her family to do the walk of shame, leaving the church before service is over. Back at home, Achilles beats her again, as Claudia cries in the background. She has a little baby bump showing.
When Borduas gives a little exercise to his students, reaches over to Suzanne and he asks her if he would want to join the class. Suzanne says she’s inexperienced in the painting domain as she’s more of a poet, or a writer. He says to today’s class is more about painting, but he often meets after class with some of his students, to write and to give themselves ideas. He says she’s welcome to stay, but she should definitely come tonight. Suzanne politely declines the offer, as she’s working in a diner tonight and speaking of this, she has to leave now. As she walks in the old city, Marcel who was the girl Borduas was talking to. When she enters the restaurant, she tells her boss that she won’t be able to work tonight, she’s sick.
Anna (Robin Tunney) puts her book down when she’s interrupted by her uncle’s doctor (James Le Gros). He asks her to follow him to his office, where they’ll be able to talk more privately. The doctor says her uncle hasn’t received a visitor in a long time. She asks if it’s possible to know who’s the last person to visit him and he says his father came in one time. The doctor claims he doesn’t have anyone they can contact in case of an emergency and until his father showed up, they were certain that he had no family. In fact, he’s been hospitalized since he was eighteen years old. The doctor asks her what brings her in Francis’s life and she says that his mother died and she’s tracking down her family. As the doctor guessed, they aren’t really close. The doctor receives a call and he has to leave. Anna leaves while he’s gone, but she’ll come back, she wants to know why her uncle is like that.
Borduas and his group of students sit in a cafe, talking about society and how they disagree with everything that’s happening in the world. Suzanne arrives and Borduas gives her a warm welcome. He presents her to Françoise Sullivan (Lucy Hale), Claude’s girlfriend. She’s an esteemed dancer and she officially invites her to her show tomorrow. Suzanne gladly accepts and she orders a coffee. They laugh together and have fun. Borduas takes out crayons and pencils from his bag and they all start to draw, or to write on napkins. Suzanne then realises that she hasn’t been this happy in a long time. She writes a poem about that and reads it aloud to the others and are moved by it. They say she’s officially part of the gang now. Borduas coldly says that he has to leave. A man is seen watching him from afar. It brings the mood down and they all leave one by one. Suzanne and Marcel remain and they leave together. He shows her around town, walking through old Montreal. She looks at him and laughs when he tells jokes, he looks at her too with a certain envy. It starts to snow and they hold hands. Suzanne is so happy.
A young Suzanne continues to get on her parents’ nerves. Constantly defying authority, she gets up in the middle of the night, right when all of her younger siblings are sleeping and she gets closer to the dreaded, forbidden piano. She lifts the keyboard protector and starts to play whatever she feels like, with the sole purpose of waking up her siblings as she wants to play with them in the middle of the night. Her mother, Claudia, comes out of the darkness of the living room and grabs her daughter. She brings her over to her fortune bed and covers her the best she can. Achilles comes downstairs and looks all over for the culprit. The babies are crying and the toddlers are up. Achilles stinks of alcohol and doesn’t see Suzanne, who’s hidden by Claudia. The whole family is gathered in the living room and Achilles grabs his belt and whips it.
1944
Borduas is crying. His group of students is gathered around him, reading the newspaper. It’s been two years she’s been in Montreal and she’s never seen her stone cold teacher shaken up to the core like this. She doesn’t know what is going on and even Marcel won’t tell her what’s happening. Borduas gives a sign to Riopelle and he grabs a match out of his pocket and he throws it on the ground. The fire quickly spreads and consumes all of their paintings and writings. Borduas throws his newspaper in the fire and we can see, out of the burning paper, that the new Prime Minister, Maurice Duplessis, back in office after a five-year hiatus, bans all non-religious art.
Genre: Drama
Executive Producer: Marielle Heller
Writer: Ann Morrow
Cast:
Rebecca Hall …. Suzanne
Robin Tunney …. Anna
Tobey Maguire .... Marcel Barbeau
Adam Brody .... Jean-Paul Riopelle
Oliver Platt .... Claude Gauvreau
Colm Feore .... Paul-Emile Borduas
Odette Annable .... Marcelle Ferron
Lucy Hale .... Françoise Sullivan
Phoebe Tonkin …. Claudia
Ryan McPartlin …. Achilles
Brenna Sherman …. Young Suzanne
James Le Gros …. Doctor
Plot: 1942. A couple of years after the previous Quebec prime was ousted, arts were thriving in Quebec, after decades of repression. A man, Paul-Emile Borduas (Colm Feore) presents his first ever collection of paintings at a Montreal art gallery. The exposition is overlooked by the general public, to Borduas’ deception, but is a hit for a small portion of the population. Borduas wakes up one morning and is sad to see that there’s no mention of him in the Journal, or the Gazette. He takes his cup of coffee, and heads to the school where he’s teaching.
His small group of students is there and applaud him, for what they think was a successful exposition, but he’s unflustered, telling them to settle down so they can get down to business. His students, a bit older than your average student, were awakened when they found out about art and have quit jobs they didn’t like to study their passion with Borduas. Amongst them, Jean-Paul Riopelle (Adam Brody), Oliver Platt (Claude Gauvreau), Marcelle Ferron (Odette Annable) and Marcel Barbeau (Tobey Maguire) are frequently regarded as his best students. Borduas explains the basics of painting, as Suzanne (Rebecca Hall) silently listens next to the door, having just enrolled in the school.
When she was younger, Suzanne (Brenna Sherman) was not an ordinary kid. She didn’t act like an ordinary little girl. Whereas her friends stayed inside and played, she was running outside in the mud and the rain, getting herself all dirty, to the obvious disappointment of her mother. Claudia (Phoebe Tonkin), Achilles (Ryan McPartlin) and the rest of the family were getting ready to go to church, all dressed up and ready to go, but Suzanne just had to chase this butterfly. She tripped and fell in the mud. Achilles picks her up and gives her a good slap across the face, as Claudia urges him to stop. When they get to the church, Suzanne, not wanting to fall in line like the other kids, acts improperly, forcing her family to do the walk of shame, leaving the church before service is over. Back at home, Achilles beats her again, as Claudia cries in the background. She has a little baby bump showing.
When Borduas gives a little exercise to his students, reaches over to Suzanne and he asks her if he would want to join the class. Suzanne says she’s inexperienced in the painting domain as she’s more of a poet, or a writer. He says to today’s class is more about painting, but he often meets after class with some of his students, to write and to give themselves ideas. He says she’s welcome to stay, but she should definitely come tonight. Suzanne politely declines the offer, as she’s working in a diner tonight and speaking of this, she has to leave now. As she walks in the old city, Marcel who was the girl Borduas was talking to. When she enters the restaurant, she tells her boss that she won’t be able to work tonight, she’s sick.
Anna (Robin Tunney) puts her book down when she’s interrupted by her uncle’s doctor (James Le Gros). He asks her to follow him to his office, where they’ll be able to talk more privately. The doctor says her uncle hasn’t received a visitor in a long time. She asks if it’s possible to know who’s the last person to visit him and he says his father came in one time. The doctor claims he doesn’t have anyone they can contact in case of an emergency and until his father showed up, they were certain that he had no family. In fact, he’s been hospitalized since he was eighteen years old. The doctor asks her what brings her in Francis’s life and she says that his mother died and she’s tracking down her family. As the doctor guessed, they aren’t really close. The doctor receives a call and he has to leave. Anna leaves while he’s gone, but she’ll come back, she wants to know why her uncle is like that.
Borduas and his group of students sit in a cafe, talking about society and how they disagree with everything that’s happening in the world. Suzanne arrives and Borduas gives her a warm welcome. He presents her to Françoise Sullivan (Lucy Hale), Claude’s girlfriend. She’s an esteemed dancer and she officially invites her to her show tomorrow. Suzanne gladly accepts and she orders a coffee. They laugh together and have fun. Borduas takes out crayons and pencils from his bag and they all start to draw, or to write on napkins. Suzanne then realises that she hasn’t been this happy in a long time. She writes a poem about that and reads it aloud to the others and are moved by it. They say she’s officially part of the gang now. Borduas coldly says that he has to leave. A man is seen watching him from afar. It brings the mood down and they all leave one by one. Suzanne and Marcel remain and they leave together. He shows her around town, walking through old Montreal. She looks at him and laughs when he tells jokes, he looks at her too with a certain envy. It starts to snow and they hold hands. Suzanne is so happy.
A young Suzanne continues to get on her parents’ nerves. Constantly defying authority, she gets up in the middle of the night, right when all of her younger siblings are sleeping and she gets closer to the dreaded, forbidden piano. She lifts the keyboard protector and starts to play whatever she feels like, with the sole purpose of waking up her siblings as she wants to play with them in the middle of the night. Her mother, Claudia, comes out of the darkness of the living room and grabs her daughter. She brings her over to her fortune bed and covers her the best she can. Achilles comes downstairs and looks all over for the culprit. The babies are crying and the toddlers are up. Achilles stinks of alcohol and doesn’t see Suzanne, who’s hidden by Claudia. The whole family is gathered in the living room and Achilles grabs his belt and whips it.
1944
Borduas is crying. His group of students is gathered around him, reading the newspaper. It’s been two years she’s been in Montreal and she’s never seen her stone cold teacher shaken up to the core like this. She doesn’t know what is going on and even Marcel won’t tell her what’s happening. Borduas gives a sign to Riopelle and he grabs a match out of his pocket and he throws it on the ground. The fire quickly spreads and consumes all of their paintings and writings. Borduas throws his newspaper in the fire and we can see, out of the burning paper, that the new Prime Minister, Maurice Duplessis, back in office after a five-year hiatus, bans all non-religious art.
Leaving Everything - Pristine Forest
Genre: Drama
Executive Producer: Marielle Heller
Writer: Ann Morrow
Cast:
Rebecca Hall …. Suzanne
Robin Tunney …. Anna
Tobey Maguire .... Marcel Barbeau
Adam Brody .... Jean-Paul Riopelle
Oliver Platt .... Claude Gauvreau
Colm Feore .... Paul-Emile Borduas
Lance Henriksen .... Francis
Odette Annable .... Marcelle Ferron
Lucy Hale .... Françoise Sullivan
Paul Sorvino .... Harry
Plot: 1948
In a small, poorly lit apartment in downtown Montreal, Marcel Barbeau (Tobey Maguire) is painting in silence, with his girlfriend Suzanne (Rebecca Hall) watching. She distracts him a bit and he turn his attention towards her. He touches her a bit on the nose with his brush, coloring her nose with a dark green shade. She kisses him and he kisses her back, grabbing her by the tight. They sensually embrace and in their passion, she knocks over the candle lighting the room as he takes off her pants.
Jean-Paul Riopelle (Adam Brody) and Claude Gauvreau (Oliver Platt) pay their teacher a visit, but they are denied entry when they want to enter Paul-Emile Borduas (Colm Feore)’ apartment. He’s been living as a recluse ever since the government banned all forms of non-religious art. Riopelle forces his way in and he looks at what Borduas’ working on. He finds pages and pages of text, stapled to the wall, or piled up on a table. Borduas tears off the sheet Claude had in his hands and burns off the other half with his candle. Borduas urges them to get out. Riopelle and Gauvreau obey, they never saw him like that and they know he wasn’t kidding and whatever was going on in his life is serious.
Marcel and Suzanne are lying in the corner of their apartment hugging. They stare at Marcel’s partially finished piece, that he doesn’t know what to call it. Suzanne suggest to call it Pristine Forest. Marcel doesn’t understand why he should call it that, as the painting is colorful and not bleak the complete opposite of what a pristine forest is. She doesn’t agree with him and she thinks that it represents the current state of society. She believes a society without art is devoid of any creativity and doesn’t encourage pleasure, she compares it to a pristine forest, a metaphor of sorts. Marcel kisses her and tells her that he loves her. They are interrupted by a someone knocking at their door. Marcel answers shirtless, covering the rest of his body with a towel he normally uses to put on the floor while he paints. He’s surprised to see Borduas at his doorstep, as he hasn’t seen him since he disenrolled from the school. Borduas notices that he interrupted them at a bad time when Suzanne covers herself up. He berates Marcel from painting, as he knows what’s going to happen to him if he’s caught. He tells them he wants to reunite the whole group at a library a couple of blocks away from here, before leaving.
Anna (Robin Tunney) was still a little shocked by the visit she payed her uncle a couple of hours ago. She’s back at the apartment and she takes a quick look at her grandmother’s belongings and she looks at her films and albums. Unsurprisingly, there isn’t a single photograph of her or of her mother. She grabs another box and she finds a drawing signed Mousse at the bottom. It’s a kids drawing and she wonders who’s Mousse, as she has never heard about it before. She thinks the only solution is for her to ask Francis. It’s a long shot, but it’s worth taking it, as if Suzanne had another child, other than Marge and Francis, he or she could be the key to learn why her grandmother completely eclipsed from her life like that. She takes a closer look at a picture and when she thinks about it, her grandfather isn’t in the picture either. She wonders what happened, as they both seemed so happy together in that bookstore.
Marcel and Suzanne are the first to arrive at the library, where they meet the owner, Harry (Paul Sorvino). He notices them looking around, like they are looking for someone, rather than for a book and he quietly asks them if they are here to meet up with Mr. Borduas and they answer affirmatively. They follow him in the backroom, where he opens a little trap and he asks them to take the stairs. Marcel is sure that this is a ruse and refuses to, until Borduas arrives and says it’s alright. He’s carrying a briefcase around and it’s filled with texts. They are shown a little room with a table and multiple paintings. Marcel and Suzanne can’t believe it, as they were sure that Borduas destroyed everything, but apparently not. As Harry pours them cups of coffee, they ask what’s in the suitcase, but he refuses to show them until the others arrive.
Riopelle, Claude, Marcelle (Odette Annable) and Françoise (Lucy Hale) finally arrive and Borduas reveals to them his mysterious plan and what he’s been working on in the past few weeks. Riopelle is suspicious about Harry, who’s still listening to the conversation, but Borduas says it’s alright, they go back a long time and besides, he fully trusts him. He takes out a couple of sheets from his briefcase and presents to them his manifesto against the current society. He says that ever since arts have been banned, he really had to teach how to build furniture at the school and not arts and can’t live like that anymore, he can’t let his talents, or all their talents go to waste. He wants them to work on this manifesto together and he wants to criticize the Catholicism that’s overtly present today. He wants to show the people that by being held back by this situation, they are not developing as fast as the rest of the country and the rest of the world. The artistic community has been silent since the ban and he wants them to go out there and show that they don’t agree with this censorship. He organizes demonstrations of disagreement all over town and he wants them to do it. Harry opens a cabinet and takes out masks mocking the appearance of the current Prime Minister and he wants them to use these masks in the demonstrations. They agree unanimously and set the first one near the museum that has become a farce, filled with inferior religious painting. They all leave separately to avoid any unwanted attention. Borduas stays behind with Harry and they talk about what they’re going to do next, until a man enters the library and is all eyes for Borduas. Borduas welcomes in the library and leaves. The man waits a bit and follows Borduas in the streets.
Anna parks her sedan in the parking lot of the asylum where her uncle is kept. She checks if she has the drawing in her purse and she looks at herself in the mirror and applies lip balm and trims her hair a bit. She looks like a mess, but she has to keep going. She goes down halls and they wheel Francis (Lance Henriksen) in a secured room. After the incident the other day, they decided that all visits must be behind a glass window and by speaker phone, just like they do in prison. She shows him the drawing and points at the Mousse and all Francis can say is Mousse. He says it again and again and he starts to cry. Anna takes out her phone and she shows him pictures of her mother, Marge. Francis’ eyes light up and he screams : Mousse! Anna then realises that her mother was Mousse, there were no other sibling. She then shows him a picture of her grandmother, his mother, Suzanne. His look darkens and he closes his eyes. He beats on his chest and on the table. They wheel him out and back into his room. On her way out, Anna is told she’s not allowed to show him pictures anymore.
Suzanne is standing in front of the museum, with Marcel’s arms wrapped around her body and her friends by their side. They put on their masks and they take out their paintings, parodies of Christian art. They scream obscenities and scandalous claims against the Catholic institution and the Prime Minister at the top of their lungs. The public is outraged and soon, the police arrives. They run away in the streets, with policemen chasing them. Suzanne is separated from Marcel and we hear the sound of her heavy breaths as the screen fades to black.
Genre: Drama
Executive Producer: Marielle Heller
Writer: Ann Morrow
Cast:
Rebecca Hall …. Suzanne
Robin Tunney …. Anna
Tobey Maguire .... Marcel Barbeau
Adam Brody .... Jean-Paul Riopelle
Oliver Platt .... Claude Gauvreau
Colm Feore .... Paul-Emile Borduas
Lance Henriksen .... Francis
Odette Annable .... Marcelle Ferron
Lucy Hale .... Françoise Sullivan
Paul Sorvino .... Harry
Plot: 1948
In a small, poorly lit apartment in downtown Montreal, Marcel Barbeau (Tobey Maguire) is painting in silence, with his girlfriend Suzanne (Rebecca Hall) watching. She distracts him a bit and he turn his attention towards her. He touches her a bit on the nose with his brush, coloring her nose with a dark green shade. She kisses him and he kisses her back, grabbing her by the tight. They sensually embrace and in their passion, she knocks over the candle lighting the room as he takes off her pants.
Jean-Paul Riopelle (Adam Brody) and Claude Gauvreau (Oliver Platt) pay their teacher a visit, but they are denied entry when they want to enter Paul-Emile Borduas (Colm Feore)’ apartment. He’s been living as a recluse ever since the government banned all forms of non-religious art. Riopelle forces his way in and he looks at what Borduas’ working on. He finds pages and pages of text, stapled to the wall, or piled up on a table. Borduas tears off the sheet Claude had in his hands and burns off the other half with his candle. Borduas urges them to get out. Riopelle and Gauvreau obey, they never saw him like that and they know he wasn’t kidding and whatever was going on in his life is serious.
Marcel and Suzanne are lying in the corner of their apartment hugging. They stare at Marcel’s partially finished piece, that he doesn’t know what to call it. Suzanne suggest to call it Pristine Forest. Marcel doesn’t understand why he should call it that, as the painting is colorful and not bleak the complete opposite of what a pristine forest is. She doesn’t agree with him and she thinks that it represents the current state of society. She believes a society without art is devoid of any creativity and doesn’t encourage pleasure, she compares it to a pristine forest, a metaphor of sorts. Marcel kisses her and tells her that he loves her. They are interrupted by a someone knocking at their door. Marcel answers shirtless, covering the rest of his body with a towel he normally uses to put on the floor while he paints. He’s surprised to see Borduas at his doorstep, as he hasn’t seen him since he disenrolled from the school. Borduas notices that he interrupted them at a bad time when Suzanne covers herself up. He berates Marcel from painting, as he knows what’s going to happen to him if he’s caught. He tells them he wants to reunite the whole group at a library a couple of blocks away from here, before leaving.
Anna (Robin Tunney) was still a little shocked by the visit she payed her uncle a couple of hours ago. She’s back at the apartment and she takes a quick look at her grandmother’s belongings and she looks at her films and albums. Unsurprisingly, there isn’t a single photograph of her or of her mother. She grabs another box and she finds a drawing signed Mousse at the bottom. It’s a kids drawing and she wonders who’s Mousse, as she has never heard about it before. She thinks the only solution is for her to ask Francis. It’s a long shot, but it’s worth taking it, as if Suzanne had another child, other than Marge and Francis, he or she could be the key to learn why her grandmother completely eclipsed from her life like that. She takes a closer look at a picture and when she thinks about it, her grandfather isn’t in the picture either. She wonders what happened, as they both seemed so happy together in that bookstore.
Marcel and Suzanne are the first to arrive at the library, where they meet the owner, Harry (Paul Sorvino). He notices them looking around, like they are looking for someone, rather than for a book and he quietly asks them if they are here to meet up with Mr. Borduas and they answer affirmatively. They follow him in the backroom, where he opens a little trap and he asks them to take the stairs. Marcel is sure that this is a ruse and refuses to, until Borduas arrives and says it’s alright. He’s carrying a briefcase around and it’s filled with texts. They are shown a little room with a table and multiple paintings. Marcel and Suzanne can’t believe it, as they were sure that Borduas destroyed everything, but apparently not. As Harry pours them cups of coffee, they ask what’s in the suitcase, but he refuses to show them until the others arrive.
Riopelle, Claude, Marcelle (Odette Annable) and Françoise (Lucy Hale) finally arrive and Borduas reveals to them his mysterious plan and what he’s been working on in the past few weeks. Riopelle is suspicious about Harry, who’s still listening to the conversation, but Borduas says it’s alright, they go back a long time and besides, he fully trusts him. He takes out a couple of sheets from his briefcase and presents to them his manifesto against the current society. He says that ever since arts have been banned, he really had to teach how to build furniture at the school and not arts and can’t live like that anymore, he can’t let his talents, or all their talents go to waste. He wants them to work on this manifesto together and he wants to criticize the Catholicism that’s overtly present today. He wants to show the people that by being held back by this situation, they are not developing as fast as the rest of the country and the rest of the world. The artistic community has been silent since the ban and he wants them to go out there and show that they don’t agree with this censorship. He organizes demonstrations of disagreement all over town and he wants them to do it. Harry opens a cabinet and takes out masks mocking the appearance of the current Prime Minister and he wants them to use these masks in the demonstrations. They agree unanimously and set the first one near the museum that has become a farce, filled with inferior religious painting. They all leave separately to avoid any unwanted attention. Borduas stays behind with Harry and they talk about what they’re going to do next, until a man enters the library and is all eyes for Borduas. Borduas welcomes in the library and leaves. The man waits a bit and follows Borduas in the streets.
Anna parks her sedan in the parking lot of the asylum where her uncle is kept. She checks if she has the drawing in her purse and she looks at herself in the mirror and applies lip balm and trims her hair a bit. She looks like a mess, but she has to keep going. She goes down halls and they wheel Francis (Lance Henriksen) in a secured room. After the incident the other day, they decided that all visits must be behind a glass window and by speaker phone, just like they do in prison. She shows him the drawing and points at the Mousse and all Francis can say is Mousse. He says it again and again and he starts to cry. Anna takes out her phone and she shows him pictures of her mother, Marge. Francis’ eyes light up and he screams : Mousse! Anna then realises that her mother was Mousse, there were no other sibling. She then shows him a picture of her grandmother, his mother, Suzanne. His look darkens and he closes his eyes. He beats on his chest and on the table. They wheel him out and back into his room. On her way out, Anna is told she’s not allowed to show him pictures anymore.
Suzanne is standing in front of the museum, with Marcel’s arms wrapped around her body and her friends by their side. They put on their masks and they take out their paintings, parodies of Christian art. They scream obscenities and scandalous claims against the Catholic institution and the Prime Minister at the top of their lungs. The public is outraged and soon, the police arrives. They run away in the streets, with policemen chasing them. Suzanne is separated from Marcel and we hear the sound of her heavy breaths as the screen fades to black.
Leaving Everything - Total Refusal
Genre: Drama
Executive Producer: Marielle Heller
Writer: Ann Morrow
Cast:
Rebecca Hall …. Suzanne
Robin Tunney …. Anna
Tobey Maguire .... Marcel Barbeau
Adam Brody .... Jean-Paul Riopelle
Oliver Platt .... Claude Gauvreau
Colm Feore .... Paul-Emile Borduas
Odette Annable .... Marcelle Ferron
Lucy Hale .... Françoise Sullivan
Alan Ford .... Marcel Barbeau - Old
Helen McCrory .... Marge
Paul Sorvino .... Harry
James Le Gros .... Doctor
Plot: 1948
Marcel Barbeau (Tobey Maguire) uses all the money he has on him to pay Suzanne’s (Rebecca Hall) bail. The police arrested most of their friends during their public protestation on the ban of non-religious art. It seems like their plan worked, people and the media are talking about them. The Quebec population, usually calm and docile, showed sign of resistance for the first time since the Patriots fought the Englishmen in 1837. This is what Paul-Emile Borduas (Colm Feore) claims, in the public opinion letter he wrote for the newspaper. He’s thrilled to see it was published. The whole gang is here, Marcel, Suzanne, Jean-Paul (Adam Brody), Claude (Oliver Platt), Marcelle (Odette Annable) and Françoise (Lucy). Borduas tells them about his new plan, the essay he’s going to write with them. It will show that the intellectuals don’t agree with the current stance of the government.
Anna (Robin Tunney) is looking through her grandmother’s stuff once again and she finds an intriguing box, still sealed. She turns it over and she recognizes her mother’s writing. The inscription says : “For you, Suzanne, I’m ready to forgive, Love Marge, Mousse XXX” But her grandmother never opened it, she wasn’t ready to confront her daughter. Anna juggles with the thought of opening the box a little, but the temptation to find out what’s in the box is too strong. She grabs a pair of scissors and cuts through the tape to find a DVD. She realises her grandmother didn’t have a DVD player, so she goes out to buy one.
Four months later, they haven’t received a word from Borduas to meet up to finalise their collective essay, so they just patiently live their life, waiting to try to change the society. Marcel and Suzanne contributed to it too. Marcel drew a couple of sketches and Suzanne wrote texts. Marcel says they’re good, but Suzanne, deep down and doubts herself, she’s not sure if she wants them to be published. What if people don’t like them and ridicule her for it ? Marcel reassures her once again and places a hand on her belly, which is showing the start of a baby bump. That’s right, Suzanne is pregnant and they both don’t have a job to support their future child, which is a concern to Suzanne, but Marcel isn’t worried about it. While Marcel stays in the candle-lit apartment to work on his sketches and paintings, Suzanne heads outside to a cafe.
She meets Claude there, they share a slice of pie and each order a coffee, but Claude prevents her from drinking it, as she’s pregnant, so he has both coffees. Suzanne opens up to him about her problems with Marcel’s attitude and he says he understands. He leans closer to her and he says that she’s always welcomed at his place and he could help with the baby. She answers back, saying he’s too sweet. It prompts him to switch to the other side of the booth, sitting next to her. He tells her he always liked her and he thinks she made a mistake choosing Marcel. They just don’t connect like they do. She says he’s much older than her and Claude says she only thinks that because of the society’s norms and they both know that they don’t adhere to them. He leans closer and closer. He says he wants her so bad and Suzanne finally gives in and kisses him. They leave the cafe without paying and enter Claude’s apartment, where they have sex all day long.
Anna is finally able to watch the DVD and she finds out it’s documentary produced and directed by her mother, called : The Children of Total Refusal. She can’t believe she never heard about it. The film opens with a man identified as her grandfather, Marcel Barbeau (Alan Ford), painting and his daughter, Anna’s mother Marge (Helen McCrory) interviewing him. He doesn’t even bother to listen to her. He just paints and paints while Marge asks him a single question, over and over again, but he still won’t answer. She asks: “Why did you leave?”, but he doesn’t answer. She changes her question and she asks why her mother left and this, this he can answer. He says she didn’t want to have a child, let alone two. Her mother was a special woman, the love of his life, but in the end she proved to be too special for him, for everyone else and for herself too. When he opens up a little, she asks him if he wants to talk about Francis, but he goes back to painting. She insists a lot, but he says he has nothing to say about his children.
Three months later, Suzanne is giving birth to her daughter on the floor of her apartment, lying on dirty drapes Marcel uses to paint. Françoise, Marcelle and Jean-Paul are there to help. During this time, Borduas is going through the finishing touch of his essay, in his dark office. He packs it in his suitcase and he leaves, heading for Jean-Paul’s apartment. Suzanne continues to push and to push, Marcelle claims she sees the head, while Françoise screams at Marcel for not giving them clean sheets so the baby mustn’t touch the floor. Borduas realises Jean-Paul isn’t home. He’s able to find Claude in his apartment and he asks him to follow him while they get the others. When they arrive at Marcel and Suzanne’s apartment, Suzanne is holding her baby. They present her to Borduas and she asks what she’s called, they have no idea, so right now, she’s just their baby, a nameless baby. He says it may not be the right time, so he will give them two days and in two days, they will meet again at Harry’s library to talk about their group project.
Two days later, Marcel leaves for the library, leaving Suzanne behind with the baby. He grabs her text and he says that they will include it in the project. Suzanne smiles at him, but doesn’t say a word. She’s more and more convinced that she didn’t make the right choice by choosing Marcel. Harry (Paul Sorvino) greets Marcel and shows him the secret room, where everyone is already there. Borduas asks Harry to show them his printer and he says that’s how they’re going to make multiple copies of the essay that he will call: Total Refusal. He presents them his text, where he criticizes the yoke the Catholic church has over society and how it has held them back compared to the other countries. He also criticizes the government for their inaction and lack of initiative. Everyone agrees with what their mentor wrote and they all present what they want to include in the project as companion piece. They assemble it together and they’re all ready to make the first copy until Suzanne comes in and says she doesn’t want her texts to be included in this. She says she has a bad feeling about it and she doesn’t want to be involved in it. Françoise asks her if she really left her baby alone and Suzanne says that she doesn’t care, she was sleeping. They berate her for it, but surprisingly, Marcel doesn’t say anything. They take out her texts and they ask her to go back to her baby and to hope it isn’t dead.
Anna watched the entire documentary and she wants to know if Marcel ever visited her uncle. She highly doubts it, but she just want to be sure, she doesn’t really know why. She is transferred to his doctor (James Le Gros) and she’s starting to get on his nerves a little bit. He says that Francis has been here for about fifty years, he was never visited and they don’t know anything about his previous life, but he must admit that ever since she showed him pictures, he’s getting better.
Six months later, the manifesto is released at Harry’s library and not many people are there for the big night. Since it’s illegal for them to release it, they can’t do any publicity and nobody can leave the library with a copy. People that are present seem to enjoy it, which is a win for Borduas. Suzanne is pregnant again and she honestly doesn’t know who the father is. Claude asks her, whispering, if there’s any chance he’s the father and she says she doesn’t know.
A couple of days later, Borduas is out in the streets to buy a newspaper. He flips the pages until he’s in the Culture section, which makes him laugh and he doesn’t consider anything they cover to be culturally relevant. He drops his sandwich on the ground when he notices a critic of his manifesto, where he’s tore to shreds by the journalist. He also learns that he’s been fired from his teaching job. Panicked, he wants to talk to Harry about it, but when he gets there, Harry is handcuffed and police is inside the library. He turns around and runs back to his apartment, where he gathers his things quickly and leaves with a single suitcase.
Suzanne and Marcel also bought the newspaper that day and they also read the critic. She tells Marcel that she hates to say it, but they saw it coming. Marcel is also targeted in the article for his involvement in the project. He grabs his coat and runs out of the apartment, he has to talk to Borduas.
Speaking of Borduas, he’s walking fast on the sidewalk and he sees a couple of police cars heading towards his apartment, good thing he already left. He gets to a train station and he buys a single ticket to New York.
Marcel arrives at Borduas’ apartment, but he turns around when he sees the police cars. He runs back to the apartment where he urges Suzanne to pack suitcases and to get the baby, they are leaving. He says he has family in the country and they can go there. She asks him what’s wrong and he claims they don’t have time to answer. Before they leave the apartment, the light everything on fire to leave no trace behind. They are leaving this part of their life behind.
Genre: Drama
Executive Producer: Marielle Heller
Writer: Ann Morrow
Cast:
Rebecca Hall …. Suzanne
Robin Tunney …. Anna
Tobey Maguire .... Marcel Barbeau
Adam Brody .... Jean-Paul Riopelle
Oliver Platt .... Claude Gauvreau
Colm Feore .... Paul-Emile Borduas
Odette Annable .... Marcelle Ferron
Lucy Hale .... Françoise Sullivan
Alan Ford .... Marcel Barbeau - Old
Helen McCrory .... Marge
Paul Sorvino .... Harry
James Le Gros .... Doctor
Plot: 1948
Marcel Barbeau (Tobey Maguire) uses all the money he has on him to pay Suzanne’s (Rebecca Hall) bail. The police arrested most of their friends during their public protestation on the ban of non-religious art. It seems like their plan worked, people and the media are talking about them. The Quebec population, usually calm and docile, showed sign of resistance for the first time since the Patriots fought the Englishmen in 1837. This is what Paul-Emile Borduas (Colm Feore) claims, in the public opinion letter he wrote for the newspaper. He’s thrilled to see it was published. The whole gang is here, Marcel, Suzanne, Jean-Paul (Adam Brody), Claude (Oliver Platt), Marcelle (Odette Annable) and Françoise (Lucy). Borduas tells them about his new plan, the essay he’s going to write with them. It will show that the intellectuals don’t agree with the current stance of the government.
Anna (Robin Tunney) is looking through her grandmother’s stuff once again and she finds an intriguing box, still sealed. She turns it over and she recognizes her mother’s writing. The inscription says : “For you, Suzanne, I’m ready to forgive, Love Marge, Mousse XXX” But her grandmother never opened it, she wasn’t ready to confront her daughter. Anna juggles with the thought of opening the box a little, but the temptation to find out what’s in the box is too strong. She grabs a pair of scissors and cuts through the tape to find a DVD. She realises her grandmother didn’t have a DVD player, so she goes out to buy one.
Four months later, they haven’t received a word from Borduas to meet up to finalise their collective essay, so they just patiently live their life, waiting to try to change the society. Marcel and Suzanne contributed to it too. Marcel drew a couple of sketches and Suzanne wrote texts. Marcel says they’re good, but Suzanne, deep down and doubts herself, she’s not sure if she wants them to be published. What if people don’t like them and ridicule her for it ? Marcel reassures her once again and places a hand on her belly, which is showing the start of a baby bump. That’s right, Suzanne is pregnant and they both don’t have a job to support their future child, which is a concern to Suzanne, but Marcel isn’t worried about it. While Marcel stays in the candle-lit apartment to work on his sketches and paintings, Suzanne heads outside to a cafe.
She meets Claude there, they share a slice of pie and each order a coffee, but Claude prevents her from drinking it, as she’s pregnant, so he has both coffees. Suzanne opens up to him about her problems with Marcel’s attitude and he says he understands. He leans closer to her and he says that she’s always welcomed at his place and he could help with the baby. She answers back, saying he’s too sweet. It prompts him to switch to the other side of the booth, sitting next to her. He tells her he always liked her and he thinks she made a mistake choosing Marcel. They just don’t connect like they do. She says he’s much older than her and Claude says she only thinks that because of the society’s norms and they both know that they don’t adhere to them. He leans closer and closer. He says he wants her so bad and Suzanne finally gives in and kisses him. They leave the cafe without paying and enter Claude’s apartment, where they have sex all day long.
Anna is finally able to watch the DVD and she finds out it’s documentary produced and directed by her mother, called : The Children of Total Refusal. She can’t believe she never heard about it. The film opens with a man identified as her grandfather, Marcel Barbeau (Alan Ford), painting and his daughter, Anna’s mother Marge (Helen McCrory) interviewing him. He doesn’t even bother to listen to her. He just paints and paints while Marge asks him a single question, over and over again, but he still won’t answer. She asks: “Why did you leave?”, but he doesn’t answer. She changes her question and she asks why her mother left and this, this he can answer. He says she didn’t want to have a child, let alone two. Her mother was a special woman, the love of his life, but in the end she proved to be too special for him, for everyone else and for herself too. When he opens up a little, she asks him if he wants to talk about Francis, but he goes back to painting. She insists a lot, but he says he has nothing to say about his children.
Three months later, Suzanne is giving birth to her daughter on the floor of her apartment, lying on dirty drapes Marcel uses to paint. Françoise, Marcelle and Jean-Paul are there to help. During this time, Borduas is going through the finishing touch of his essay, in his dark office. He packs it in his suitcase and he leaves, heading for Jean-Paul’s apartment. Suzanne continues to push and to push, Marcelle claims she sees the head, while Françoise screams at Marcel for not giving them clean sheets so the baby mustn’t touch the floor. Borduas realises Jean-Paul isn’t home. He’s able to find Claude in his apartment and he asks him to follow him while they get the others. When they arrive at Marcel and Suzanne’s apartment, Suzanne is holding her baby. They present her to Borduas and she asks what she’s called, they have no idea, so right now, she’s just their baby, a nameless baby. He says it may not be the right time, so he will give them two days and in two days, they will meet again at Harry’s library to talk about their group project.
Two days later, Marcel leaves for the library, leaving Suzanne behind with the baby. He grabs her text and he says that they will include it in the project. Suzanne smiles at him, but doesn’t say a word. She’s more and more convinced that she didn’t make the right choice by choosing Marcel. Harry (Paul Sorvino) greets Marcel and shows him the secret room, where everyone is already there. Borduas asks Harry to show them his printer and he says that’s how they’re going to make multiple copies of the essay that he will call: Total Refusal. He presents them his text, where he criticizes the yoke the Catholic church has over society and how it has held them back compared to the other countries. He also criticizes the government for their inaction and lack of initiative. Everyone agrees with what their mentor wrote and they all present what they want to include in the project as companion piece. They assemble it together and they’re all ready to make the first copy until Suzanne comes in and says she doesn’t want her texts to be included in this. She says she has a bad feeling about it and she doesn’t want to be involved in it. Françoise asks her if she really left her baby alone and Suzanne says that she doesn’t care, she was sleeping. They berate her for it, but surprisingly, Marcel doesn’t say anything. They take out her texts and they ask her to go back to her baby and to hope it isn’t dead.
Anna watched the entire documentary and she wants to know if Marcel ever visited her uncle. She highly doubts it, but she just want to be sure, she doesn’t really know why. She is transferred to his doctor (James Le Gros) and she’s starting to get on his nerves a little bit. He says that Francis has been here for about fifty years, he was never visited and they don’t know anything about his previous life, but he must admit that ever since she showed him pictures, he’s getting better.
Six months later, the manifesto is released at Harry’s library and not many people are there for the big night. Since it’s illegal for them to release it, they can’t do any publicity and nobody can leave the library with a copy. People that are present seem to enjoy it, which is a win for Borduas. Suzanne is pregnant again and she honestly doesn’t know who the father is. Claude asks her, whispering, if there’s any chance he’s the father and she says she doesn’t know.
A couple of days later, Borduas is out in the streets to buy a newspaper. He flips the pages until he’s in the Culture section, which makes him laugh and he doesn’t consider anything they cover to be culturally relevant. He drops his sandwich on the ground when he notices a critic of his manifesto, where he’s tore to shreds by the journalist. He also learns that he’s been fired from his teaching job. Panicked, he wants to talk to Harry about it, but when he gets there, Harry is handcuffed and police is inside the library. He turns around and runs back to his apartment, where he gathers his things quickly and leaves with a single suitcase.
Suzanne and Marcel also bought the newspaper that day and they also read the critic. She tells Marcel that she hates to say it, but they saw it coming. Marcel is also targeted in the article for his involvement in the project. He grabs his coat and runs out of the apartment, he has to talk to Borduas.
Speaking of Borduas, he’s walking fast on the sidewalk and he sees a couple of police cars heading towards his apartment, good thing he already left. He gets to a train station and he buys a single ticket to New York.
Marcel arrives at Borduas’ apartment, but he turns around when he sees the police cars. He runs back to the apartment where he urges Suzanne to pack suitcases and to get the baby, they are leaving. He says he has family in the country and they can go there. She asks him what’s wrong and he claims they don’t have time to answer. Before they leave the apartment, the light everything on fire to leave no trace behind. They are leaving this part of their life behind.
Leaving Everything - Star Foam
Genre: Drama
Executive Producer: Marielle Heller
Writer: Ann Morrow
Cast:
Rebecca Hall …. Suzanne
Tobey Maguire .... Marcel Barbeau
Colm Feore .... Paul-Emile Borduas
Plot:
This episode is in black and white, with no music being played.
The camera is focused on a burning apartment building, presumably the one our main characters were living in. Firefighters are busy trying to fight the fire, as bystanders curiously watch. We continue to hear the sound from that scene, but the camera travels far away from the busy streets of Montreal and stop deep in Quebec country. It travels a field of crops and small barn. A woman is heard screaming that her baby is inside the building on fire. Her scream continues and they eventually match the screams we hear coming from the small farm house. Suzanne (Rebecca Hall) is giving birth to her second child, a boy this time, as her now husband Marcel (Tobey Maguire) watches on, smoking a cigarette with indifference. Marcel is skinnier than before, not that he once was overweight before, but he’s much skinnier than he was. Their first child, Mousse, enters the living room, wondering why her mother was screaming like that and Marcel tells her to get the hell out of here. He gets up and locks himself in his study while Suzanne is still screaming in the background.
A couple of months later, a much scrawnier Marcel is smoking a cigarette with indifference, holding the baby boy in his arms in the kitchen as a dangerously skinny Suzanne is cooking with Mousse watching her. Marcel sits the baby on the table and leaves the room, pointing the baby at Mousse. She comes over to the table and plays with him a little, as Suzanne looks over her shoulder discouraged. She sighs and goes back to her pots and pans.
The family eats in silence for the most part, but the baby decides otherwise and he starts to cry. Suzanne tries to comfort him with one arm, while helping Mousse eat with the other. Marcel looks away, slowly chewing. Suzanne can’t manage to calm the baby and Marcel abruptly leaves the table, grabbing his plate and locking himself in his office once again. A tear is seen dripping down Suzanne’s face. The silence is broken by Mousse, innocently asking her mother what’s wrong.
After dinner, Suzanne quietly opens the door to Marcel’s office and she places a hand on his shoulder. He’s painting, again. He looks at her and smiles, but Suzanne doesn’t smile back. She asks him if he will work the field tomorrow, because if he doesn’t, they won’t have anything to eat this winter. Marcel answers back that it’s good she finally talks to him and he didn’t remember the last time he heard her speak to him. He turns around and leans in to kiss her, but at the same time, Mousse enters the room and asks to go to the bathroom. Suzanne quickly turns around and grabs Mousse’s hand. The camera follows them outside as we hear the sound of the wind. They walk to a really small building with a small roof and a hole on the ground. The camera focuses on Suzanne’s face as she gags and holds her daughter as she does her business. Mousse says she will race her mother inside, but Suzanne doesn’t feel like having fun. She slowly walks inside, looking around desperately. When she comes back inside, Marcel comes out of his study, with a smile on his face. He says he finally decided to open the letter they received earlier. He managed to book an exposition in New York, thanks to Borduas. He hugs her enthusiastically and Suzanne hugs him back, but she doesn’t seem too pleased.
About a week later, Marcel bids farewell to his family and he leaves for his New York exhibition. Suzanne sits on her rocking chair, slowly rocking, as Mousse runs around playing some sort of imaginary game and the baby is on the floor. Time passes by on accelerate and Mousse runs around quickly, while Suzanne rocks her rocking chair aggressively. Time slows down and finally stops. The blinds are closed and the small wooden house is dark. Some light takes over from the darkness as Suzanne is drinking a cup of coffee. Marcel is back from his New York trip with a healthy check in hand. He intends to celebrate with his wife, but only Mousse is happy to see him. Suzanne turns her head and smiles lightly.
The night has come and they are in bed facing away from each other. Marcel turns around and he speaks to Suzanne, grabbing her by the shoulder, speaking in her ear. He says he hasn’t been there much recently, but he still loves this family and he’s doing whatever he can to help them and that unfortunately involves them being separated for a while. He says he has to go back to New York for a month so he can earn money again. He asks her if she loves him again and she turns around and looks him in the eyes. She says he makes it hard to love him before kissing him. She turns around again and they go to sleep.
The following morning, Suzanne is in her morning routine, cooking breakfast for the whole family, with Mousse running around, asking to go to the bathroom. Marcel takes her and it gives Suzanne a little quiet moment, until the baby starts crying. She sights and she takes care of him, completely forgetting about the food she was cooking. A small fire start and Marcel runs inside to take it out. The whole house stinks of smoke and they open the windows to let the smoke out. It’s now winter and Marcel starts a fire in the fireplace. The cold winter wind chills everyone and the mood is once again down when they eat together. They work the field all day and when the night comes, Marcel says goodbye to his family again, Suzanne kisses him passionately, which surprises Marcel.
She locks herself in her study and opens a letter she received from Borduas (Colm Feore). He narrates the letter as we see time passing by outside. He tells her how great of a woman she was and how she’s a good person for taking care of her family like that. He says she can send him her poems so he can read them. He was always a fan of her writing and he would like to see what she’s been working on all these years. She never even thought about writing all those months. She burns the letter and heads in her room.
She grabs a small bag and gathers all her belongings. She looks at date on the calendar and notices Marcel is coming back tomorrow morning.
She grabs Mousse by the hand and sits her down in front of the fire and she lowers down to her level. She grabs her by the shoulders and tells her to listen very hard. She says mom will be gone for a while and she needs her to take care of her brother, everything is going to be alright. She grabs a bucket and tells her to use it as a toilet. She pats her on the head and tells her that she loves her very much and she will be back soon. She hugs her hard and when Mousse wants to separate, Suzanne extends the hug. Tears are running down her face. She kisses her on the cheek and puts another log in the fire, just in case. She opens the door and closes it, before walking down the road. A poem by Suzanne is read as she walks all the way to the train station. She buys a ticket for the next departing train, not knowing where it will lead her, leaving her two children in the cold of the night alone at home, hoping that Marcel won’t be late. She vaguely thinks about it, but she has no regrets. She left everything and doesn’t regret it. She looks genuinely happy for the first time in forever.
Genre: Drama
Executive Producer: Marielle Heller
Writer: Ann Morrow
Cast:
Rebecca Hall …. Suzanne
Tobey Maguire .... Marcel Barbeau
Colm Feore .... Paul-Emile Borduas
Plot:
This episode is in black and white, with no music being played.
The camera is focused on a burning apartment building, presumably the one our main characters were living in. Firefighters are busy trying to fight the fire, as bystanders curiously watch. We continue to hear the sound from that scene, but the camera travels far away from the busy streets of Montreal and stop deep in Quebec country. It travels a field of crops and small barn. A woman is heard screaming that her baby is inside the building on fire. Her scream continues and they eventually match the screams we hear coming from the small farm house. Suzanne (Rebecca Hall) is giving birth to her second child, a boy this time, as her now husband Marcel (Tobey Maguire) watches on, smoking a cigarette with indifference. Marcel is skinnier than before, not that he once was overweight before, but he’s much skinnier than he was. Their first child, Mousse, enters the living room, wondering why her mother was screaming like that and Marcel tells her to get the hell out of here. He gets up and locks himself in his study while Suzanne is still screaming in the background.
A couple of months later, a much scrawnier Marcel is smoking a cigarette with indifference, holding the baby boy in his arms in the kitchen as a dangerously skinny Suzanne is cooking with Mousse watching her. Marcel sits the baby on the table and leaves the room, pointing the baby at Mousse. She comes over to the table and plays with him a little, as Suzanne looks over her shoulder discouraged. She sighs and goes back to her pots and pans.
The family eats in silence for the most part, but the baby decides otherwise and he starts to cry. Suzanne tries to comfort him with one arm, while helping Mousse eat with the other. Marcel looks away, slowly chewing. Suzanne can’t manage to calm the baby and Marcel abruptly leaves the table, grabbing his plate and locking himself in his office once again. A tear is seen dripping down Suzanne’s face. The silence is broken by Mousse, innocently asking her mother what’s wrong.
After dinner, Suzanne quietly opens the door to Marcel’s office and she places a hand on his shoulder. He’s painting, again. He looks at her and smiles, but Suzanne doesn’t smile back. She asks him if he will work the field tomorrow, because if he doesn’t, they won’t have anything to eat this winter. Marcel answers back that it’s good she finally talks to him and he didn’t remember the last time he heard her speak to him. He turns around and leans in to kiss her, but at the same time, Mousse enters the room and asks to go to the bathroom. Suzanne quickly turns around and grabs Mousse’s hand. The camera follows them outside as we hear the sound of the wind. They walk to a really small building with a small roof and a hole on the ground. The camera focuses on Suzanne’s face as she gags and holds her daughter as she does her business. Mousse says she will race her mother inside, but Suzanne doesn’t feel like having fun. She slowly walks inside, looking around desperately. When she comes back inside, Marcel comes out of his study, with a smile on his face. He says he finally decided to open the letter they received earlier. He managed to book an exposition in New York, thanks to Borduas. He hugs her enthusiastically and Suzanne hugs him back, but she doesn’t seem too pleased.
About a week later, Marcel bids farewell to his family and he leaves for his New York exhibition. Suzanne sits on her rocking chair, slowly rocking, as Mousse runs around playing some sort of imaginary game and the baby is on the floor. Time passes by on accelerate and Mousse runs around quickly, while Suzanne rocks her rocking chair aggressively. Time slows down and finally stops. The blinds are closed and the small wooden house is dark. Some light takes over from the darkness as Suzanne is drinking a cup of coffee. Marcel is back from his New York trip with a healthy check in hand. He intends to celebrate with his wife, but only Mousse is happy to see him. Suzanne turns her head and smiles lightly.
The night has come and they are in bed facing away from each other. Marcel turns around and he speaks to Suzanne, grabbing her by the shoulder, speaking in her ear. He says he hasn’t been there much recently, but he still loves this family and he’s doing whatever he can to help them and that unfortunately involves them being separated for a while. He says he has to go back to New York for a month so he can earn money again. He asks her if she loves him again and she turns around and looks him in the eyes. She says he makes it hard to love him before kissing him. She turns around again and they go to sleep.
The following morning, Suzanne is in her morning routine, cooking breakfast for the whole family, with Mousse running around, asking to go to the bathroom. Marcel takes her and it gives Suzanne a little quiet moment, until the baby starts crying. She sights and she takes care of him, completely forgetting about the food she was cooking. A small fire start and Marcel runs inside to take it out. The whole house stinks of smoke and they open the windows to let the smoke out. It’s now winter and Marcel starts a fire in the fireplace. The cold winter wind chills everyone and the mood is once again down when they eat together. They work the field all day and when the night comes, Marcel says goodbye to his family again, Suzanne kisses him passionately, which surprises Marcel.
She locks herself in her study and opens a letter she received from Borduas (Colm Feore). He narrates the letter as we see time passing by outside. He tells her how great of a woman she was and how she’s a good person for taking care of her family like that. He says she can send him her poems so he can read them. He was always a fan of her writing and he would like to see what she’s been working on all these years. She never even thought about writing all those months. She burns the letter and heads in her room.
She grabs a small bag and gathers all her belongings. She looks at date on the calendar and notices Marcel is coming back tomorrow morning.
She grabs Mousse by the hand and sits her down in front of the fire and she lowers down to her level. She grabs her by the shoulders and tells her to listen very hard. She says mom will be gone for a while and she needs her to take care of her brother, everything is going to be alright. She grabs a bucket and tells her to use it as a toilet. She pats her on the head and tells her that she loves her very much and she will be back soon. She hugs her hard and when Mousse wants to separate, Suzanne extends the hug. Tears are running down her face. She kisses her on the cheek and puts another log in the fire, just in case. She opens the door and closes it, before walking down the road. A poem by Suzanne is read as she walks all the way to the train station. She buys a ticket for the next departing train, not knowing where it will lead her, leaving her two children in the cold of the night alone at home, hoping that Marcel won’t be late. She vaguely thinks about it, but she has no regrets. She left everything and doesn’t regret it. She looks genuinely happy for the first time in forever.
Leaving Everything - The Dawn Trails
Genre: Drama
Executive Producer: Marielle Heller
Writer: Ann Morrow
Cast:
Rebecca Hall …. Suzanne
Robin Tunney …. Anna
Tobey Maguire .... Marcel Barbeau
Colm Feore .... Paul-Emile Borduas
Lance Henriksen .... Francis
Adam Arkin .... Lenny
Alan Ford .... Marcel Barbeau - Old
Marissa Jaret Winokur .... Helene Barbeau
James Le Gros .... Doctor
Anna (Robin Tunney) pulls in the parking lot of the asylum where her uncle is hospitalized and she checks with his doctor (James LeGros), making sure one more time if he thinks it’s a good idea for her to take him out of the asylum and into the real world for an afternoon. He says he has been making significant progress in the past week and it all started since she started to visit, so she must have a positive influence on him. They wheel him out in a wheelchair and Francis (Lance Henriksen) quickly smiles at his niece. She pushes him outside and he gets out the wheelchair. Anna turns her engine on and they leave. She breaks the silence by saying that they are not going where the doctor thinks they’re going.
Marcel (Tobey Maguire) gets off his train with his dear friend and mentor Paul-Emile Borduas (Colm Feore) by his side. Borduas came all the way back to Quebec country to surprise Suzanne. They walk fast, at a nervous, quick pace. They knock on the door, but nobody answers. Marcel says he’ll go check if she’s in the bathroom a little further away and Borduas stays at the door. He decides to open it and it wasn’t locked. He enters and he can’t believe what he sees. The young Mousse is sitting on the floor, shivering, with her little brother in her arms, trying to comfort him. They are covered in dirt. Marcel arrives and Mousse drops the baby and runs in her dad’s arms. He asks her where Mom is and Mousse says that she left two days ago and she never came back.
Suzanne’s train stops in New York. On the way there, she wrote a long letter to Borduas, thanking him for making her realise that she was meant to be much more than a housewife and that she was truly, an artist. She immediately posts the letter, even if she knows he’ll never answer back, she has no address now. She walks around New York, liberated. She skips around and finally stops and lies on the ground in Central Park, where she watches the clouds, laughing, finally free from the burden of motherhood. A man is looking at her from a distance, showing interest in her, but he hides behind his newspaper, he doesn’t want to catch her attention.
Back in Quebec, the situation is much different and much more sad for Marcel Barbeau. He sits on the floor of his living room, hugging his frail daughter and his infant son near the fire Borduas started. He tries to understand what happened, she didn’t leave a note, nothing. Borduas thinks about it for a long time and finally breaks the palpable discomfort in the room by saying he thinks he knows why Suzanne left and it’s because of him, but he refuses to tell Marcel why, even if Barbeau threatens him. His mouth stays shut and he swears this secret will follow him to his grave. Marcel silently gets up and packs bags for his children.
Suzanne lifts her head a bit and she sees the man watching her. She gets up and walks in his direction. He gets a little nervous and moves the newspaper closer to his face. She lowers the newspaper and she tells him in her broken English she learned in Ontario when she was younger that she sees him watching her. She asks him what is name is and he says he’s Lenny (Adam Arkin). She says she’s new in town and she wants to know the city a little better and she wants him to show her the city. He says he’ll be sure to do it and he asks her if she’s hungry. She says she is and he asks her if she ever went to McDonald’s and she says she hasn’t. He can’t believe and they walk together over to the McDonalds.
Marcel is dressed from head to toe in black, like he’s going to a funeral. He also dressed up his children and Borduas is still following him. They take the train and go to another city. Borduas and Marcel haven’t shared a word since they left Marcel’s home in the country. They follow a dirt road and Marcel knocks on a door, where a woman answer. It’s his sister Helene (Marissa Jaret Winokur). He asks if he received their letter and she says she did. He gives her the baby and he grabs Mousse by the hand. He crouches and he says he will be back soon, but they will stay with aunt Helene now. He whips a tear off his cheek and kisses her on the forehead. He asks Helene to take care of her and she says she will. Marcel turns around and leaves, as Borduas follows him. He asks him if he will ever come back for his children, but Marcel says he prefers to not answer that question, as he whips another tear of his face.
Suzanne is now outside with her new friend and Lenny. He laughs at her accent and he puts ketchup on her nose. They laugh together and she kisses him. She says she’s finally free and she doesn’t care. He’s surprised by the kiss, but he accepts it.
Anna parks her car near a small studio. She unbuckles Francis and she asks him to follow her. They enter the studio and she’s surprised by how cold it is in there. Classical music is playing and the white are pristine white. She hears a man humming along the music and she grabs Francis by the hand. They see the man and he turns around, surprised by his unexpected visitors. Marcel Barbeau (Alan Ford) is painting a huge painting. Anna simply says that this is his son and she wants him to tell him what he did to him. It’s time they face one another.
Genre: Drama
Executive Producer: Marielle Heller
Writer: Ann Morrow
Cast:
Rebecca Hall …. Suzanne
Robin Tunney …. Anna
Tobey Maguire .... Marcel Barbeau
Colm Feore .... Paul-Emile Borduas
Lance Henriksen .... Francis
Adam Arkin .... Lenny
Alan Ford .... Marcel Barbeau - Old
Marissa Jaret Winokur .... Helene Barbeau
James Le Gros .... Doctor
Anna (Robin Tunney) pulls in the parking lot of the asylum where her uncle is hospitalized and she checks with his doctor (James LeGros), making sure one more time if he thinks it’s a good idea for her to take him out of the asylum and into the real world for an afternoon. He says he has been making significant progress in the past week and it all started since she started to visit, so she must have a positive influence on him. They wheel him out in a wheelchair and Francis (Lance Henriksen) quickly smiles at his niece. She pushes him outside and he gets out the wheelchair. Anna turns her engine on and they leave. She breaks the silence by saying that they are not going where the doctor thinks they’re going.
Marcel (Tobey Maguire) gets off his train with his dear friend and mentor Paul-Emile Borduas (Colm Feore) by his side. Borduas came all the way back to Quebec country to surprise Suzanne. They walk fast, at a nervous, quick pace. They knock on the door, but nobody answers. Marcel says he’ll go check if she’s in the bathroom a little further away and Borduas stays at the door. He decides to open it and it wasn’t locked. He enters and he can’t believe what he sees. The young Mousse is sitting on the floor, shivering, with her little brother in her arms, trying to comfort him. They are covered in dirt. Marcel arrives and Mousse drops the baby and runs in her dad’s arms. He asks her where Mom is and Mousse says that she left two days ago and she never came back.
Suzanne’s train stops in New York. On the way there, she wrote a long letter to Borduas, thanking him for making her realise that she was meant to be much more than a housewife and that she was truly, an artist. She immediately posts the letter, even if she knows he’ll never answer back, she has no address now. She walks around New York, liberated. She skips around and finally stops and lies on the ground in Central Park, where she watches the clouds, laughing, finally free from the burden of motherhood. A man is looking at her from a distance, showing interest in her, but he hides behind his newspaper, he doesn’t want to catch her attention.
Back in Quebec, the situation is much different and much more sad for Marcel Barbeau. He sits on the floor of his living room, hugging his frail daughter and his infant son near the fire Borduas started. He tries to understand what happened, she didn’t leave a note, nothing. Borduas thinks about it for a long time and finally breaks the palpable discomfort in the room by saying he thinks he knows why Suzanne left and it’s because of him, but he refuses to tell Marcel why, even if Barbeau threatens him. His mouth stays shut and he swears this secret will follow him to his grave. Marcel silently gets up and packs bags for his children.
Suzanne lifts her head a bit and she sees the man watching her. She gets up and walks in his direction. He gets a little nervous and moves the newspaper closer to his face. She lowers the newspaper and she tells him in her broken English she learned in Ontario when she was younger that she sees him watching her. She asks him what is name is and he says he’s Lenny (Adam Arkin). She says she’s new in town and she wants to know the city a little better and she wants him to show her the city. He says he’ll be sure to do it and he asks her if she’s hungry. She says she is and he asks her if she ever went to McDonald’s and she says she hasn’t. He can’t believe and they walk together over to the McDonalds.
Marcel is dressed from head to toe in black, like he’s going to a funeral. He also dressed up his children and Borduas is still following him. They take the train and go to another city. Borduas and Marcel haven’t shared a word since they left Marcel’s home in the country. They follow a dirt road and Marcel knocks on a door, where a woman answer. It’s his sister Helene (Marissa Jaret Winokur). He asks if he received their letter and she says she did. He gives her the baby and he grabs Mousse by the hand. He crouches and he says he will be back soon, but they will stay with aunt Helene now. He whips a tear off his cheek and kisses her on the forehead. He asks Helene to take care of her and she says she will. Marcel turns around and leaves, as Borduas follows him. He asks him if he will ever come back for his children, but Marcel says he prefers to not answer that question, as he whips another tear of his face.
Suzanne is now outside with her new friend and Lenny. He laughs at her accent and he puts ketchup on her nose. They laugh together and she kisses him. She says she’s finally free and she doesn’t care. He’s surprised by the kiss, but he accepts it.
Anna parks her car near a small studio. She unbuckles Francis and she asks him to follow her. They enter the studio and she’s surprised by how cold it is in there. Classical music is playing and the white are pristine white. She hears a man humming along the music and she grabs Francis by the hand. They see the man and he turns around, surprised by his unexpected visitors. Marcel Barbeau (Alan Ford) is painting a huge painting. Anna simply says that this is his son and she wants him to tell him what he did to him. It’s time they face one another.
Leaving Everything - From Night to Dawn
Genre: Drama
Executive Producer: Marielle Heller
Writer: Ann Morrow
Cast:
Rebecca Hall …. Suzanne
Robin Tunney …. Anna
Tobey Maguire .... Marcel Barbeau
Colm Feore .... Paul-Emile Borduas
Lance Henriksen .... Francis
Adam Arkin .... Lenny
Alan Ford .... Marcel Barbeau - Old
Zoe Kravitz .... Daisy
Plot: Suzanne (Rebecca Hall) dressed professionally with a skirt and a jacket enters an office with her boyfriend by her side, the much older Lenny (Adam Arkin) CEO of a small enterprise located in New York. She sits at the front desk and starts to write a letter. She works as a receptionist there and she seems… surprisingly happy. She has been working there for a couple of years now and, as opposed to everything else in her life, she decided not to leave. Lenny makes her happy, happier than Marcel ever made her. She writes in her free time and during her lunch break, in French, of course, so Lenny can’t read it and embarrass her by sharing it with his rich friends. The night has come and they go to a restaurant where they eat fancy, but not too fancy, Suzanne doesn’t want the rich lifestyle, she likes things to be simple. Lenny is too crazy about her and complies. Their evening goes well and they have sex at home.
The situation isn’t as good for Suzanne’s ex-lover and father of her two children Marcel (Tobey Maguire). He looks through a pile of papers in his small studio he shares with his mentor, Paul-Emile Borduas (Colm Feore). Marcel asks Borduas if he will ever find her again and Borduas hates to be pessimistic, but he doesn’t think he’s ever going to see her again. She left without a trace and it was clearly her goal never to be found again. Marcel tells Borduas that enough time has passed for him to get a divorce in Quebec, so he’s leaving by train tomorrow to divorce her and finally put that chapter of his life to bed. Borduas asks Marcel if he’s ready to put it to bed and he’s not entirely sure.
In a more modern time, Anna (Robin Tunney) brought her uncle, Francis (Lance Henriksen) to meet his father Marcel (Alan Ford) after all these years. She’s not sure about what the outcome will be, but she was determined for them to meet again. Marcel just looks at him awkwardly and Francis just stands there, not understanding the situation fully, due to his lack of knowledge of social cues. Anna breaks the silence and she tells Francis that this is his father, he doesn’t remember him and it’s normal, because he abandoned him when he was still a baby. Marcel interrupts and he says he didn’t abandon his children, she did, Suzanne did. He said he loved his children with all his heart and he did not abandon them. Anna corrects him and she says that a man who loves his children doesn’t leave them on his sister’s porch never to talk to them again. Marcel says he talked to Anna’s mother and Anna quickly jumps the gun and she says that if he’s talking about the documentary, she wouldn’t consider it talking, he didn’t answer her questions, because he’s ashamed of what he did. Francis finally talks and he says one simple word: dad?
Suzanne gets to work early the next morning and she writes a poem, sitting at her desk. She doesn’t notice that Borduas entered and his watching her. She struggles to find a line and he utters: De la nuit jusqu’à l’aube (From Night to Dawn), which surprises her. She starts to panic, asking him how he found her, if Marcel knows and what he’s going to do. Borduas says he isn’t here to get her, he just wanted to talk to her. She was tough to find, but he recognized her at a public poetry reading. She wrote about freedom and it was in French, and that’s where it caught his attention. He says it is the last time he sees her. She clearly wants them out of her life, although he doesn’t understand why, but that’s normal, she’s an artist at heart. She left everything, a clean slate, and he senses she’s about to do it again, because between them, she’s not going to be a receptionist forever and, pointing at a picture of Lenny hung on the wall, she can do better than that. She completely broke Marcel, and as he said she had her reasons and he doesn’t want to know why she left. She said, in her poem, that she struggled for years to keep up, to stay on her course, to settle down like everyone, but she dreamed of freedom so long and the desire was so strong, that she turned her life upside down to chase that dream and right now, he’s disappointed in what he sees. He’s going to leave now, but she needs to promise that she’s not going to waste her life here, at this desk. She left bigger, more important things before and she can surely do it again. He gives her a folded piece of paper and he leaves, kissing her goodbye for the last time. Suzanne thinks about what he just said to her. She agrees with him and writes a heartfelt letter to Lenny, telling him that she’s leaving him. She needs to chase her dream, freedom. A dream so hard to achieve that she’s starting a third chapter in her life for it. She leaves tonight, she doesn’t know where she’s going and if shouldn’t bother to try to find her again, he won’t. She leaves the office and leaves, without a suitcase, and buys a bus ticket heading south. She doesn’t know where she’ll stop, she’ll stop when she will feel like it’s time. She gets on the bus and meets with her seat buddy, a charming young woman named Daisy (Zoe Kravitz). Daisy asks Suzanne where she,s going and Suzanne laughs it off, saying she has no idea. She asks Daisy where she’s going and Daisy says she’s not sure she can trust her with the answer, which intrigues Suzanne. Suzanne looks by the window and falls asleep as the bus starts.
Back in modern days, Francis asks his father why he never saw him and Marcel, overtaken by the emotion, can’t answer his son right away. He begins to lose his balance and falls on the ground slowly. Francis watches on, awkwardly, while Anna quickly grabs a chair. She bends down to pick him up and she sees tears in his eyes. She broke him.
Genre: Drama
Executive Producer: Marielle Heller
Writer: Ann Morrow
Cast:
Rebecca Hall …. Suzanne
Robin Tunney …. Anna
Tobey Maguire .... Marcel Barbeau
Colm Feore .... Paul-Emile Borduas
Lance Henriksen .... Francis
Adam Arkin .... Lenny
Alan Ford .... Marcel Barbeau - Old
Zoe Kravitz .... Daisy
Plot: Suzanne (Rebecca Hall) dressed professionally with a skirt and a jacket enters an office with her boyfriend by her side, the much older Lenny (Adam Arkin) CEO of a small enterprise located in New York. She sits at the front desk and starts to write a letter. She works as a receptionist there and she seems… surprisingly happy. She has been working there for a couple of years now and, as opposed to everything else in her life, she decided not to leave. Lenny makes her happy, happier than Marcel ever made her. She writes in her free time and during her lunch break, in French, of course, so Lenny can’t read it and embarrass her by sharing it with his rich friends. The night has come and they go to a restaurant where they eat fancy, but not too fancy, Suzanne doesn’t want the rich lifestyle, she likes things to be simple. Lenny is too crazy about her and complies. Their evening goes well and they have sex at home.
The situation isn’t as good for Suzanne’s ex-lover and father of her two children Marcel (Tobey Maguire). He looks through a pile of papers in his small studio he shares with his mentor, Paul-Emile Borduas (Colm Feore). Marcel asks Borduas if he will ever find her again and Borduas hates to be pessimistic, but he doesn’t think he’s ever going to see her again. She left without a trace and it was clearly her goal never to be found again. Marcel tells Borduas that enough time has passed for him to get a divorce in Quebec, so he’s leaving by train tomorrow to divorce her and finally put that chapter of his life to bed. Borduas asks Marcel if he’s ready to put it to bed and he’s not entirely sure.
In a more modern time, Anna (Robin Tunney) brought her uncle, Francis (Lance Henriksen) to meet his father Marcel (Alan Ford) after all these years. She’s not sure about what the outcome will be, but she was determined for them to meet again. Marcel just looks at him awkwardly and Francis just stands there, not understanding the situation fully, due to his lack of knowledge of social cues. Anna breaks the silence and she tells Francis that this is his father, he doesn’t remember him and it’s normal, because he abandoned him when he was still a baby. Marcel interrupts and he says he didn’t abandon his children, she did, Suzanne did. He said he loved his children with all his heart and he did not abandon them. Anna corrects him and she says that a man who loves his children doesn’t leave them on his sister’s porch never to talk to them again. Marcel says he talked to Anna’s mother and Anna quickly jumps the gun and she says that if he’s talking about the documentary, she wouldn’t consider it talking, he didn’t answer her questions, because he’s ashamed of what he did. Francis finally talks and he says one simple word: dad?
Suzanne gets to work early the next morning and she writes a poem, sitting at her desk. She doesn’t notice that Borduas entered and his watching her. She struggles to find a line and he utters: De la nuit jusqu’à l’aube (From Night to Dawn), which surprises her. She starts to panic, asking him how he found her, if Marcel knows and what he’s going to do. Borduas says he isn’t here to get her, he just wanted to talk to her. She was tough to find, but he recognized her at a public poetry reading. She wrote about freedom and it was in French, and that’s where it caught his attention. He says it is the last time he sees her. She clearly wants them out of her life, although he doesn’t understand why, but that’s normal, she’s an artist at heart. She left everything, a clean slate, and he senses she’s about to do it again, because between them, she’s not going to be a receptionist forever and, pointing at a picture of Lenny hung on the wall, she can do better than that. She completely broke Marcel, and as he said she had her reasons and he doesn’t want to know why she left. She said, in her poem, that she struggled for years to keep up, to stay on her course, to settle down like everyone, but she dreamed of freedom so long and the desire was so strong, that she turned her life upside down to chase that dream and right now, he’s disappointed in what he sees. He’s going to leave now, but she needs to promise that she’s not going to waste her life here, at this desk. She left bigger, more important things before and she can surely do it again. He gives her a folded piece of paper and he leaves, kissing her goodbye for the last time. Suzanne thinks about what he just said to her. She agrees with him and writes a heartfelt letter to Lenny, telling him that she’s leaving him. She needs to chase her dream, freedom. A dream so hard to achieve that she’s starting a third chapter in her life for it. She leaves tonight, she doesn’t know where she’s going and if shouldn’t bother to try to find her again, he won’t. She leaves the office and leaves, without a suitcase, and buys a bus ticket heading south. She doesn’t know where she’ll stop, she’ll stop when she will feel like it’s time. She gets on the bus and meets with her seat buddy, a charming young woman named Daisy (Zoe Kravitz). Daisy asks Suzanne where she,s going and Suzanne laughs it off, saying she has no idea. She asks Daisy where she’s going and Daisy says she’s not sure she can trust her with the answer, which intrigues Suzanne. Suzanne looks by the window and falls asleep as the bus starts.
Back in modern days, Francis asks his father why he never saw him and Marcel, overtaken by the emotion, can’t answer his son right away. He begins to lose his balance and falls on the ground slowly. Francis watches on, awkwardly, while Anna quickly grabs a chair. She bends down to pick him up and she sees tears in his eyes. She broke him.
Leaving Everything - A Wonderful Desire
Genre: Drama
Executive Producer: Marielle Heller
Writer: Ann Morrow
Cast:
Rebecca Hall …. Suzanne
Robin Tunney …. Anna
Tobey Maguire .... Marcel Barbeau
Lance Henriksen .... Francis
Alan Ford .... Marcel Barbeau - Old
Blythe Danner .... Suzanne - Old
Zoe Kravitz .... Daisy
Marissa Jaret Winokur .... Helene Barbeau
Plot: The bus carrying Suzanne (Rebecca Hall) and her new friend Daisy (Zoe Kravitz) stops in Washington D.C. and Daisy says this is where she gets off. Suzanne, still chasing her dream of freedom, decides to follow Daisy, as she doesn’t know when to stop and, according to her inner voice, the farther the better. Daisy is disgruntled that Suzanne is following and she keeps telling her that she won’t like where she’s going, but Suzanne holds on to her point and keeps following Daisy. The walk across the American capital and Daisy points another bus with her finger and says this is where she’s going. Suzanne notices that the words Freedom Riders are written on the side of the bus and she says this is perfect, she’s chasing freedom. Daisy looks at her worryingly, she’s not chasing freedom if she follows her. She’s not ready for what’s ahead.
During this time, back in Quebec, Marcel comes out of a a building with an envelope in his hand. He gets to the nearby restaurant and he orders a coffee in his booth. His hand shakes as he opens the envelope containing his official divorce paper. Suzanne disappeared long enough for her to be declared legally dead and he seized the opportunity to divorce her, so he can start his life again. He reads the paper grating him his freedom and he’s ready to start a new chapter of his life. He buys a train ticket, but not for the United States.
Suzanne and Daisy sit on the multiracial Freedom Riders bus and people are tense. They look outside through the windows and a mob throws things at the bus, prompting the driver to accelerate and to get on the freeway. Everyone is on the edge of their seats, looking around, not understanding what just happened. The bus passes a billboard on the side of the highway, telling them that Birmingham is 10 miles away.
Anna (Robin Tunney) helps Marcel (Alan Ford) get up and she sits him on a chair, offering him water, but he declines. He says he failed as a dad and he regretted his decision ever since. She asks him what’s he talking about and he tells the story of what happened when he visited his sister for the last time…
Marcel gets off the train and walks to his sister’s house. He walks around a little bit and wanders around the house. He hesitates a little to knock on the door and he finally decides not to. Helene (Marissa Jaret Winokur) sees him, opens the door and calls his name. He turns around and he tells her that it was a mistake coming here. She says that New York changed him, he doesn’t even look healthy now. She asks him if she wants to see Marge and Francis but he turns around panicking, telling her, again, that coming here was a mistake. She tells him that she misses her brother and that he has changed for the worse, but that’s too late, because Marcel left as quickly as he arrived.
Suzanne and Daisy are nervous, because the Freedom Riders bus is scheduled to protest in Birmingham and the riders are more and more nervous about what’s going to happen to them as soon as they step out of that bus, as they saw earlier today. The music stops around them and we hear Suzanne breathing. She looks around her and see Dis hugging her friends. She wonders what she got herself into. The picture turns black and white and Suzanne frantically looks around as she is pushed out of the bus. The Freedom Riders in front of her hold hand in protest. A crowd gathered to confront them and they scream obscenities at the Freedom Riders. The sound is slowly fading and we concentrate on Suzanne’s breath. We get a point of view from her perspective and as the crowd jumps on the Freedom Riders, Suzanne turns around and runs away. She looks back one last time and she sees Daisy trying to fend off a man mauling her and calling for Suzanne’s name. Suzanne runs away and doesn’t look back. It’s not the kind of freedom she wanted. She doesn’t know where to go next and she thinks about the last time she was free, because, after all, that’s what she’s chasing. We get a flashback of her when she was younger, running around in the mud and the rain and it strikes her: home, this is where she’s free and this is where she’s going.
Anna asks Marcel why he didn’t want to see his kids and he says that he was ashamed and that he never would have made a good father. He looks at Francis (Lance Henriksen), his son, who, because of him, turned crazy. Marcel’s eyes are watery as he says to Francis that he’s sorry for not being present in his life and that nothing he says can make up for what he did to him. He doesn’t ask him to forgive, he asks him to understand and that’s a lot to ask for. Francis doesn’t really understand the situation, but he senses that Marcel is sad, so he steps forward and leans down to hug him, without saying a world. Anna looks at Marcel and it looks like this hug meant everything for him. She asks Marcel if he ever saw Suzanne again, because after she got back from the US, her diary stops. He says he saw her once and only once and he regrets not keeping in touch with her. He says her grandmother was a special woman and in her eyes, freedom was not having any strings attached, so she spent the rest of her life recluse and that’s why she refused to see his children. She never wrote it, but deep down, she regrets cutting her children from her life and that’s because she told him.
An old Suzanne (Blythe Danner) finishes to tell her life story to her former lover, Marcel in an Ottawa coffee. He asks her if she regrets anything, and she says that when she looks back at her life, there’s only one word to describe it: bittersweet. She lived free as a bird, but at the same time, she missed the little things that make most people happy, like seeing her children growing, or sharing your life with a loved one. She tells Marcel that she loved him with all his heart, but her desire of freedom was too strong to continue like that. She loved him and she made that choice, and it’s too late for her to change that. Marcel smiles and he says that it’s not too late, they can still be together. Suzanne gets up and she says that she knows the end is near. She broke his heart once and doesn’t want to break it again. She’s hard to understand, but she’s not cruel.
Genre: Drama
Executive Producer: Marielle Heller
Writer: Ann Morrow
Cast:
Rebecca Hall …. Suzanne
Robin Tunney …. Anna
Tobey Maguire .... Marcel Barbeau
Lance Henriksen .... Francis
Alan Ford .... Marcel Barbeau - Old
Blythe Danner .... Suzanne - Old
Zoe Kravitz .... Daisy
Marissa Jaret Winokur .... Helene Barbeau
Plot: The bus carrying Suzanne (Rebecca Hall) and her new friend Daisy (Zoe Kravitz) stops in Washington D.C. and Daisy says this is where she gets off. Suzanne, still chasing her dream of freedom, decides to follow Daisy, as she doesn’t know when to stop and, according to her inner voice, the farther the better. Daisy is disgruntled that Suzanne is following and she keeps telling her that she won’t like where she’s going, but Suzanne holds on to her point and keeps following Daisy. The walk across the American capital and Daisy points another bus with her finger and says this is where she’s going. Suzanne notices that the words Freedom Riders are written on the side of the bus and she says this is perfect, she’s chasing freedom. Daisy looks at her worryingly, she’s not chasing freedom if she follows her. She’s not ready for what’s ahead.
During this time, back in Quebec, Marcel comes out of a a building with an envelope in his hand. He gets to the nearby restaurant and he orders a coffee in his booth. His hand shakes as he opens the envelope containing his official divorce paper. Suzanne disappeared long enough for her to be declared legally dead and he seized the opportunity to divorce her, so he can start his life again. He reads the paper grating him his freedom and he’s ready to start a new chapter of his life. He buys a train ticket, but not for the United States.
Suzanne and Daisy sit on the multiracial Freedom Riders bus and people are tense. They look outside through the windows and a mob throws things at the bus, prompting the driver to accelerate and to get on the freeway. Everyone is on the edge of their seats, looking around, not understanding what just happened. The bus passes a billboard on the side of the highway, telling them that Birmingham is 10 miles away.
Anna (Robin Tunney) helps Marcel (Alan Ford) get up and she sits him on a chair, offering him water, but he declines. He says he failed as a dad and he regretted his decision ever since. She asks him what’s he talking about and he tells the story of what happened when he visited his sister for the last time…
Marcel gets off the train and walks to his sister’s house. He walks around a little bit and wanders around the house. He hesitates a little to knock on the door and he finally decides not to. Helene (Marissa Jaret Winokur) sees him, opens the door and calls his name. He turns around and he tells her that it was a mistake coming here. She says that New York changed him, he doesn’t even look healthy now. She asks him if she wants to see Marge and Francis but he turns around panicking, telling her, again, that coming here was a mistake. She tells him that she misses her brother and that he has changed for the worse, but that’s too late, because Marcel left as quickly as he arrived.
Suzanne and Daisy are nervous, because the Freedom Riders bus is scheduled to protest in Birmingham and the riders are more and more nervous about what’s going to happen to them as soon as they step out of that bus, as they saw earlier today. The music stops around them and we hear Suzanne breathing. She looks around her and see Dis hugging her friends. She wonders what she got herself into. The picture turns black and white and Suzanne frantically looks around as she is pushed out of the bus. The Freedom Riders in front of her hold hand in protest. A crowd gathered to confront them and they scream obscenities at the Freedom Riders. The sound is slowly fading and we concentrate on Suzanne’s breath. We get a point of view from her perspective and as the crowd jumps on the Freedom Riders, Suzanne turns around and runs away. She looks back one last time and she sees Daisy trying to fend off a man mauling her and calling for Suzanne’s name. Suzanne runs away and doesn’t look back. It’s not the kind of freedom she wanted. She doesn’t know where to go next and she thinks about the last time she was free, because, after all, that’s what she’s chasing. We get a flashback of her when she was younger, running around in the mud and the rain and it strikes her: home, this is where she’s free and this is where she’s going.
Anna asks Marcel why he didn’t want to see his kids and he says that he was ashamed and that he never would have made a good father. He looks at Francis (Lance Henriksen), his son, who, because of him, turned crazy. Marcel’s eyes are watery as he says to Francis that he’s sorry for not being present in his life and that nothing he says can make up for what he did to him. He doesn’t ask him to forgive, he asks him to understand and that’s a lot to ask for. Francis doesn’t really understand the situation, but he senses that Marcel is sad, so he steps forward and leans down to hug him, without saying a world. Anna looks at Marcel and it looks like this hug meant everything for him. She asks Marcel if he ever saw Suzanne again, because after she got back from the US, her diary stops. He says he saw her once and only once and he regrets not keeping in touch with her. He says her grandmother was a special woman and in her eyes, freedom was not having any strings attached, so she spent the rest of her life recluse and that’s why she refused to see his children. She never wrote it, but deep down, she regrets cutting her children from her life and that’s because she told him.
An old Suzanne (Blythe Danner) finishes to tell her life story to her former lover, Marcel in an Ottawa coffee. He asks her if she regrets anything, and she says that when she looks back at her life, there’s only one word to describe it: bittersweet. She lived free as a bird, but at the same time, she missed the little things that make most people happy, like seeing her children growing, or sharing your life with a loved one. She tells Marcel that she loved him with all his heart, but her desire of freedom was too strong to continue like that. She loved him and she made that choice, and it’s too late for her to change that. Marcel smiles and he says that it’s not too late, they can still be together. Suzanne gets up and she says that she knows the end is near. She broke his heart once and doesn’t want to break it again. She’s hard to understand, but she’s not cruel.