February seems to be a favorite month for the premieres of movies made in Québec. I suppose that producers and directors prefer working during the summer months, because the weather is most favorable and actors and actresses are more available. Although I still remember summer of 92 which was cold, rainy and miserable; in other words, there was no summer that year! So we have to wait till the end of winter following the filming of a movie to be presented with the efforts of our artists of the seventh art. I was dying to see Cap Tourmente, Roy’s first movie after the unforgettable Being at home with Claude, and I had my reasons for my impatience.

The casting was excellent and the Charlevoix region for a filming site with its breathtaking landscapes, well, you couldn’t ask for more! No wonder our best painters, writers and musicians have cherished this region to illustrate either on canvas or on paper, this fabulous demonstration of Nature which Charlevoix is.

On a blue winter Sunday afternoon, I knew nothing of director Michel Langlois, and I could not even imagine that he attended the Beaux-Arts School, where he must have learned to harmonize colors, shades and hues in all things as well as in human beings. After watching Cap Tourmente, what I knew of him was his love for Charlevoix and his enormous admiration for his actors. It is always a great joy to meet the people you love in such a grandiose site.

I had a funny feeling coming out of the movie theater... I was in a bizarre mood...unbalanced, confused...like draw back to my childhood.

Alex, Roy’s character was creating a serious problem. Although I understood him I was unable to love him or better to be attracted, even if I had fell for all the previous characters played by Roy. Why was I so reticent to follow this one?

He then reminded me of a friend in my childhood. An immature and hurtful person who was able to be attractive if possible, a dreamer who was provocative... someone who would change normal life into a series of unsuspected events. Alex could have been his twin brother...

So it took me time.

Like for all Roy’s movies, I saw this one twice. We see him so rarely on the big screen. So just for the pleasure and for the connivance that lies between Roy and the camera. There is an old saying that should how the magic works between actors and actresses with the camera : « The camera loves them ». What a beautiful image... and as far as Roy is concerned it is really a love affair. He offers himself : the camera grabs him, captures all of him, in a greedy way. They are naturally meant for each other.

After a second viewing, I still do not fell too easy with Alex.

So I bought the video a few months later. Although I was still embarrassed with it, I was hoping to get over this feeling and find something else, to finally get acquainted and totally won.

While preparing for theses pages, I have tried to understand the reasons of my original reserve for Alex and if the entire movie has something to do with it.

Cap Tourmente is a poem and an awakened dream.

You hear a music composed on familiar airs of sunshine, water and sandy beaches, of green landscapes and blue skies stretching from the horizon to land on the warm and cozy atmosphere of the family inn. Somewhere between the sky and the earth, between reality and dreamland. And either asleep in Morpheus’s arms or Alex’s, you will travel from heaven to hell. From the worst torments to absolute peace. This movie is moving you like the sea, sometimes rocking you on a happy wave or throwing you down the abyss of grief on a groundswell.

My major problem dealing with Alex was that I was looking for Roy and that I could not find him. I was wandering on the traces of Yves (Being at home with Claude), of Michel (Scoop) but it did not leave me any clue. Once again I was trapped by Roy’s genius as an actor, by the quality of his character that I seemed unable to grasp.

Alex was completely different from Roy. Of course he has the same stature but he stands up far away from him. And it is not because his hair were blond or that he added on a few kilos. He is as beautiful as the others, even with blond hair, even a little heavier, he is just beautiful. When standing at the foot of the stairway, dressed up in his father’s navy jacket, like a blue sky off a dark sea showing off the golden stripes on the sleeves. Alex is shining like those stripes and everything that surrounds him is also luminous but he shines even more than everything else, standing up in this aura of light. His eyes are enlighted with the glow of a precious metal, a dancing fire radiates his presence...but his look is never clear. He has a troubled look, a green tormented look. Too bright or too dark. Alex is never calm, even when he sleeps. The ashes are always burning ready to burst into a fiery blaze... He wants all and right now. Entangled in the family triangle, but staying outside of reality and of the time zone where he lives. He is splitted over two words. Irresponsible, narcissistic, as well as egocentric and always desperately in love, in love with his mother, his sister, Jean-Louis, in love with love. Alex l’amant (Alex, the lover), l’aimant (the magnet), aimant ( loving), comme un vent fou, le vent fou de Charlevoix...( like a wild wind, the wild wind of Charlevoix...).