Québécois Photographer : Sébastien Raymond

“Hollywood, it’s another world, far from filming in Québec where we work in an almost familial ambience.”  - Sébastien Raymond

The Montreal publishing house Éditions Somme Toute is on a roll this year. After Marcel Jean’s essential Dictionnaire des films québécois comes another impressive title, Sébastien Raymond’s Un temps d’acteur. It’s part biography, on-set reportage and the photography of the Québécois film shoots that Raymond has been on. Just like how Jean was able to trace a unique history into Québécois film history through his encyclopaedic knowledge on the subject, Raymond also presents a unique entryway into Québécois cinema as he traces his own experience of being the behind-the-scenes still photographer on some of its most impressive films of the last fifteen years. Of note are his photographs on the films of Jean-Marc Vallée (C.R.A.Z.Y., Café de flore), which some were already on display in the published screenplay of the C.R.A.Z.Y. (again Éditions Somme Toute).

Sébastien Raymond grew up in France, where his mother introduced him to movies (who the book is dedicated to), and he started his career in photojournalism. But his agency slowly pushed him to take photographs on film shoots and this would be the turning point for his career. He would move to Montreal in 1999, which led to where he is now. The many famous personalities that he photographed, and which are in this book, include: Ryan O’Neal, Pierre Richard, Gérard Depardieu, Pierre Lebeau, Vanessa Paradis, Laurence Leboeuf, Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge and André Forcier. Other important Canadian figures that Raymond took portraits of include Pierre Trudeau and Maurice Richard.

On the cover of the Un temps d’acteur is a photograph of Sébastien Ricard from Avant que mon cœur bascule (2012). His penetrating gaze offers a capsule of what the book accomplishes in trying to capture the rawness of the actor, which blends his own self with the character he’s portraying. Some of Raymond’s still photographer influences include Henri Cartier-Bresson, Raymond Depardon and Raymond Cauchetier. This artistic influence emerges in Raymond in his sensitivity to the actors and his ability to capture the essences of the films into one unique photograph. For Raymond, the main ingredients of on set photography is: “The love of cinema, a good story, magnificent scenes to photograph, tension, risks and the sentiment of being useful.”

The film set is described as, “Every one there, without any exceptions, works with an enthusiasm, devoted to the director.” The film crew is described as a famille du cinema, “one has to be close with everyone.” Raymond learned how to act on set early on in his career and Raymond Depardon, one of his idols, who when he worked with him, described Raymond as being even more discreet than he was. The film crew is compared to an army. And Raymond has particularly funny anecdotes on the use of slang on these Québécois film shoots, the unbearableness of working in the wilderness in the cold of winter, and working with condescending Hollywood types.

The best photographs, for Raymond, come from working closely to the camera. Even though making films can be infernal and monstrous, “At the heart of all of this, we can always be touched, especially through the intimate dialogues between the director and the actors… It is these precious moments that allow the actors to become closer to their characters, and to share with the director their vision of the scene… While the director continuously searches, interrogates and questions. He takes his time to set the actors on the right path, to be their characters and to fit in the story.”

Raymond worked on Boys IV, Nouvelle-France, 5150 Rue des Ormes, Un été sans point ni coup sûr, Meetings with a Young Poet, Mémoires affectives, The List, A Strange Course of Events, Les Maîtres du suspense and Journey to the Center of the Earth (though curiously his work on Gerontophilia is not included, but which sounds interesting).

But to get to the good stuff: Jean-Marc Vallée.

On C.R.A.Z.Y., “Everyone that worked on it knew that it was not just a film like any other.” And on Vallée's conception of cinema, “Vallée privately shared with me, ‘cinema, before anything else is the art of compromise.’” On Michel Côté, “He has a voice that really marks cinema. We can’t mistake it, it’s a unique voice, clear and sharp. He’s one of the actors that really makes you love cinema.”

On the early Christmas scene in C.R.A.Z.Y., “A dozen actors, even more extras, a bunch of technicians, tracks for a travelling shot, stress, tension, all of this in a small living room. In short, everything for a scene of great filmmaking or a terrible catastrophe… And once everything is set into place, the music starts… Jean-Marc Vallée usually films with music playing through the PA system, which is not typically done. Sergio Leone used to also do it with the music of Ennio Morricone. It is rare to feel as much emotion on a set like in these moments. It’s organic, as if we were a part of the film stock. When Michel Côté started to dance as he was singing Aznavour, it was hard for me not to hold back from crying.”

Even though Raymond describes Vallée as “definitively having the gift to create atmospheres on films that are really particular,” there’s still something mischievous about how he does it sometimes. When Zac (Marc-André Grondin) walks home in the snow it was actually shot in the middle of the summer: “All night, the poor Marc-André had to deal with the assault of this ‘snow storm’ which was hitting him right in the face. The result was perfect, and it is really hard to notice on the screen that the scene was actually filmed on a nice night in May.” Another fun anecdote is scene when Marc-André Grondin accidently tosses a glass of wine into Raymond’s face.

On the opening airport scene in Café de flore, “In front of Kevin Parent there’s a bunch of young children with Down syndrome that cross his path. All of these children were accompanied by their parents who were behind the camera to signal them not to look at the camera. The children took their role really seriously, and we felt that they were really proud to participate on the film. It was really emotional to see them so focused and happy… It was an exceptional scene where everyone participated. It was really magical. The instant was charged with such emotion, and the parents especially had tears in their eyes, just like us.”

An interesting anecdote is how Hélène Florent in Café de flore, when she goes to see the tarot card reader, they couldn’t get ‘cinematic’ goosebumps so the assistant camera operator Marc Lemieux had to replace her arm in that scene.

On Vanessa Paradis, Raymond writes, “On the set, she was never judging, but remained really attentive. Nothing escaped her. Her character emerged with a quiet precision, with a volition to push her to the furthest. She knew to keep her distance, she’s a star, but also she could pose her hand on the shoulder of a technician to thank them, sincerely.”

On the scenes in the Paris streets, “Jean-Marc wanted to film with a really small team, so that they could be more mobile, so that we could 'steal' certain shots. We were only a dozen of us walking the Paris streets, just like tourist. We were filming in the style of the nouvelle vague, with the camera on our shoulders, in a very natural way.”

Raymond discusses his relationship with Vallée, 
“At the end of the filming of Café de flore, Vallée looked at my photographs and confided to me that he would have liked to have filmed some of its scenes the way I framed my photographs. I explained to him, that if he did do that, the scenes wouldn’t have had the same emotional impact, and what I did was try to express through photography what he did through cinema… What I retain the most from my discussions with Jean-Marc is that I didn’t betray him, and that through my photographs I did my job at making a person want to go see the film. This reminded me of the story of Steven Spielberg’s relationship with his still photographer, David James. After each day of filming, Spielberg asked to see the photographs that were taken. Not to reassure himself, but because they communicated how a spectator would feel about what was going on.”

And to conclude on Jean-Marc Vallée,

“Jean-Marc, has the exigency of a genious. To film with him, one has to better be prepared, physically and psychologically. With him, the camera becomes instinctive, a prolongation of his spirit which never stops moving. One needs to be ready, because a scene can unexpectedly shift away from what was rehearsed. The camera can go in all directions. One must be ready for anything, as it’s meant to throw off the actors. It’s an inventive cinema. If he could sometimes be impatient on the set, he remains always faithful to his vision. No one is left behind, we feel compelled to be a part of the project. It’s this force to be able to unite everyone towards this common goal that makes Jean-Marc a noteworthy director. His vision is never obscure, and is usually surprising. His interior world is a secret, though he never hesitates to share it… One morning, on Café de flore, Jean-Marc came to see me to encourage me to not hesitate to offer him certain ideas on how to film a scene. I was perplexed and I answered him that I would never offer my opinion on how he should film – I would never do that. But his inquiry revealed his doubts, that of the artist who never comes to the set with an already precise idea in his head, who blends into the décor, gets absorbed into the atmosphere before he does anything. Then the actors come in, and then the mise en scène slowly forms.”

And Jean-Marc Vallée has been getting some more great exposure recently: The Los Cabos Film Festival presented a career tribute to him where they opened with Demolition. Its festival director Alonso Aguilar described Vallée’s work as a ‘cinema of possibilities’ and where Jared Leto spoke of how Vallée “reminds us that there is a unique beauty to behold that can change us forever.” Vallée is also planning to film, at least the opening pilot, of Big Little Lies for HBO, an adaptation of the Liane Moriarty 2014 novel, with Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon. Sarah Myles, writing for We Got This Covered, writes, “Director Jean-Marc Vallée, on the other hand, has repeatedly sculpted impressive, multi-layered, complex women in each of the projects he has delivered, so it will hopefully be his influence – combined with that of stars Kidman and Witherspoon – that shines through in the adaptation of Big Little Lies.” And finally the Montreal restaurant, Robin Des Bois, is doing a special event on Wednesday November 25^th for the 10 year anniversary of C.R.A.Z.Y. with the entire cast and Vallée and his two sons Alex and Émile deejaying and helping to serve drinks and specialty ironed grilled cheeses. Things are looking up for Vallée, and hopefully he starts to get more public recognition which he truly deserves.