Threesomes, S&M, Open Relationships and Love: Éric K. Boulianne’s ‘Follies’ Sexes up Locarno

Threesomes, S&M, Open Relationships and Love: Éric K. Boulianne’s ‘Follies’ Sexes up Locarno

Prolific Quebec screenwriter and actor Éric K. Boulianne is ready to rise to the occasion at the Locarno Film Festival — again. In 2023, he won the best direction award for his short Making Babies (Faire un enfant) in the Swiss fest’s Pardi di Domani section, which calls itself “a vital space for expressive experimentation and innovative forms of cinematic poetry.” And now, the Canadian creative has just world premiered, in the Filmmakers of the Present program of the 78th edition of Locarno, Follies (Folichonneries), his feature directorial debut.

The movie brings a hilariously awkward, sexy vibes to the fest, which traditionally has a reputation for presenting the latest arthouse discoveries.

“François and Julie, together for 16 years and parents of two children, can no longer connect intimately,” reads a synopsis for Follies. “They decide to open up their relationship in order to engage in sexual follies that will allow them to learn more about themselves… But it can’t be that simple, right?”

Boulianne has made a name for himself by writing such Canadian box office hits as Father and Guns 2 and Compulsive Liar.

He decided to work on Follies, for which he wrote the screenplay with Alexandre Auger, based on a trend he noticed among his friends. “At one point, it seemed like every couple around me was in an open relationship,” he explains in a director’s note. “So I made this movie. It’s not an exhaustive moral study on non-monogamy — it is a reflection on the modern couple and an ode to love.”

The ensemble cast, led by Boulianne and Catherine Chabot (Compulsive Liar, The Guide to the Perfect Family), also features Florence Blain Mbaye, Étienne Galloy, Sarah Chouinard Poirier, Simone Bellemare-Ledoux and Rémi St-Michel.

The film, featuring cinematography by François Messier-Rheault, was produced by Coop Vidéo de Montréal. Check out a clip for Follies here.

Despite his busy Locarno schedule, Boulianne sat down with THR to discuss Follies, shooting sex scenes — including ones involving nipple clamps and threesomes — and what may be next for him.

Given that you have made such a name for yourself with writing and also acting, how is directing for you?

I directed the short film, which was the blueprint of what I tried to do in the feature film. We were shooting the short on film and had a lot of nudity and intimacy scenes, so that was kind of a little tryout for what I wanted to do in the feature film. I thought: I’m a writer, I’m not a director. But it gave me a sort of confidence. I’ve written nine feature films, but to direct one seemed like this big mountain, which I was never to be able to do. And then Locarno came, the short gave me confidence, and it worked well. And I said, “Okay, let’s do it!”

With the feature, I just relied on the whole team. I’m directing myself and was asking the DOP and others a lot of questions, such as: “Was I okay?” I thought, let’s just push through. And it was a beautiful thing.

Follies really dances along that line between comedy and drama a lot. How did you and your co-writer know how to find that balance?

It was really about pushing and finding that line. We have both been doing this for a long time. My vision of comedy has always been that it is on the verge of drama at any time. In the film, you’re in a situation where you laugh, and then within a split second, it becomes dramatic. I feel that’s life. It’s just natural and just human. When I saw Kenneth Lonergan’s movie Manchester by the Sea, there was this scene with the ambulance, and I loved that. You must find that line, and that was important for us writers. We’ve tried many, many times, and sometimes we have succeeded.

Did you get asked whether Follies was a comedy or drama?

All the time! In Quebec, when you ask for funding, you have to pick one. And they say: “So you’re doing a comedy, okay, but we read it, and it’s not that funny on the page.” And I would say: “No, it’s a comedy, but even if not, who gives a shit? But I tell you, it’s going to be funny, and then it’s not going to be funny sometimes. It’s just the fucking film.” That’s what I was fighting with all my career to this point. But for this one, we didn’t ask for funds in the beginning and just started with our own money. We had a small arts fund with our own money.

Sex and relationships seem to be of interest to most people, but I don’t always find them as interesting on screen as in Follies. Tell me a bit about what you find intriguing and appealing about those topics as cinematic themes.

Sexuality and intimacy are just full of dramatic impulses. When you see it on the screen, there’s always a reaction at first. As a viewer, you are thinking: “How am I going to deal with it?” So there’s tension, and sometimes there’s comedy. The main thing I wanted to do was just to show sexuality in frank and natural ways. When you see the film, I would not say it’s sexy. It’s just natural. There are sex scenes in a wide shot with bodies that don’t know very much what they’re doing. I didn’t want to sexualize it.

If you’re going to do a film about open relationships and all that, there’s going to be some nudity, but I wanted to use it narratively. It was the same thing in the short film I directed, which was about couples trying to have a baby. If it’s about a couple trying to have a baby, well, they are going to fuck! That’s how you make babies. So I didn’t feel the need to be shy about it. I hate it when in films, they have to cover up. I mean, nudity and sexuality are just a natural thing, and we wanted to show that.

There is also quite a bit of awkwardness in your sex scenes…

There’s a threesome, and I’m with a guy, and it’s just those two dudes with dad bods, which is a bit awkward. I’ve never been in a threesome, but people tell me that when you are in a threesome, you are trying to get into a rhythm. It’s not like in porn films. Instead, there’s always a bit of awkwardness, because maybe you’re meeting these people for the first time. So, we wanted to bring in a bit of that awkwardness.

There are also S&M scenes. Did you have intimacy coordinators and S&M coordinators, if that job exists, on the film?

I don’t know if there’s such a thing as an S&M coordinator. But we had an intimacy coordinator, because even given the fact that I’m acting in the movie with other people, I just wanted a barrier and a distance. We talked about all the scenes. And, for example, when two actresses had a girl-on-girl scene, I was not going to be the one to tell them what to do. I let them decide what their take was. So, everything was talked about and was really fun.

For the S&M part, I didn’t know what to do, so I checked on the internet with my co-writer. There is this thing with a key in ice. I didn’t know it was a thing, but he said, “Yeah, I googled it, and I think it’s a thing.” So we said, okay, let’s put that in the movie. But the gag balls and the nipple clamps were the fucking worst. It’s weird directing your own thing, and we had a closed set. But as soon as I said “cut,” I was like, “Fuck, that hurts, let’s take it off.” So I was not into S&M, and acting it didn’t give me the vibe, but it fit my character.

Is it weird watching yourself in a sex scene later?

I don’t know. I don’t have this [issue]. I don’t really mind watching myself. I’m not in love with myself, but it’s just the separation of, “Okay, I’m watching a film with me in it, and if I want to be in the film, I have to analyze my performance.”

What was one of the weirdest things on set was when I would do a scene where I had to be emotional. But you’re the director, and you finish the scene, and you’re alone with yourself for a few seconds after you cried, and you’re in your thoughts. “Was I good?” And that’s a weird thing, because at that time, you’re the only judge. But then I would turn to the DOP. I’m a bit shy about it because I’m not a trained actor.

You could have fooled me!

No, it’s something I started a few years ago, and I’m doing here and there, but this one is the first really big performance. To get through the emotional process, I’m not trained, so I have to dig deep and confront real pain and things that make me sad for real. And that’s really exhausting. I’m sure there’s another way to get there in an emotional scene, but I don’t know this way right now, because I don’t have the training, so I’m just going to try to learn. It’s just a really exhausting process.

Some scenes feel almost like a documentary. Any influences on your style you could share?

We did this hyper-realistic thing, and I was inspired by some movies from the mumblecore movement of the early 2000s, where you just have a camera there, and they’re capturing the moment.

Are open relationships a big topic in Canada?

I started to write about it because at one point, it seemed like everybody around me was in an open relationship. I really felt like I was the fucking only one in a monogamous relationship. That’s not the case. But I think it’s not that marginal.

People can choose their own path and then maybe find out that this path is not what they want, and then change their minds. The people around me seem pretty happy with new forms of relationships. And I think it’s kind of beautiful. If it suits you, perfect! I think it just needs good communication, and if you’re open about it, then it’s perfect. It’s really with young friends that I see more fluidity, but it’s still complicated.

Do you think you’ll direct more features after Follies?

Yeah, I kind of liked it, and it was a really fun experience. But I’m a bit scared of the official way to do it, like going through the government-funded financing thing, and then they look at your script, which is not like the indie process with my own money and my own freedom. So I will try to do it, but I’m a little bit scared. But right now, I have two films in development, and they need a bigger budget. That’s the next step, doing a film with a proper budget. We’ll see if I like it.

Can you share any details on the two film projects you just mentioned?

There’s one with [Follies co-writer] Alexandre [Auger] and another friend of mine, and then there is one with another one. I’m not going to work alone. Because I think sometimes working in a team pushes your ideas further.

One movie that I’m doing is about suicide watch. It’s about two friends with someone who needs help, and needs someone to stay with them for suicide watch. So, the pitch for the institutions is worrying me the most – “It doesn’t sound like a comedy!” Yeah, it’s a comedy, but with suicide watch. I’m sure it’s going to be funny, and sometimes not.

And then I’m doing a baseball movie. I’m a big fan of baseball, and we’re doing a movie about the 1994 season of the [Montreal] Expos when there was the strike. But we don’t have the budget to show the real Expos, so we’re doing it about a small team that tries to emulate the Expos. It’s like a proletarian baseball movie.