Canadian producers Wookey Films and Chasseurs Films have teamed up to produce veteran TV director Guillaume Lonergan’s debut feature, “Denise sans Denis.”
Written by Paul Ruban, the dark comedy follows a 60-year-old woman determined to break free from a lifetime of self-sacrifice — only to set off a chain of increasingly chaotic consequences.
The film is produced by sibling duo Janelle Wookey and Jérémie Wookey of Winnipeg-based Wookey Films and Laurent Allaire of Chasseurs Films in Québec.
“I’m glad to start the journey of directing ‘Denise sans Denis’ with Wookey Films and Chasseur Films,” said Lonergan.
The director also helmed Florence Longpré’s hit psychiatric drama “Empathy,” which won Series Mania’s Audience Award last year. That series shares certain qualities with his new work, Lonergan noted.
Jérémie Wookey and Janelle Wookey of Winnipeg-based Wookey Films
Rejean Brandt
“Very much like the series I helmed in the past, like ‘Empathy’ and ‘The Glass House,’ ‘Denise Without Denis’ mixes comedy and drama, realism and dreamlike moments.”
“I read the script by Paul Ruban a year ago and it was difficult to say ‘no,’” he added.
Set in the city of Winnipeg, “Denise sans Denis” tells the story of woman in her sixties, a few days before her retirement, as she’s planning to leave her husband.
Denise has spent her entire life taking care of everyone else. A devoted school principal, she is the glue holding together a crumbling ecosystem of neediness: a well-meaning but chronically disappointing husband, a school full of little crises, a self-absorbed daughter and unruly grandkids who treat her like a built-in safety net, and an aging father whose enthusiastic nudism keeps getting him expelled from one seniors’ home after another, the synopsis runs.
When one indignity too many pushes her past her breaking point, Denise makes a radical decision: she’s done.
Described as “darkly funny, biting and unexpectedly heartfelt,” “Denise sans Denis” is the story of a woman daring to choose herself for the first time, even if it means everything around her has to burn.
“Denise wants to be free, live the years she has left on her own terms instead of always putting other people first,” Lonergan explained. “The problem is, something always happens that prevents her from pulling the trigger and escaping her old life.”
Josée Deschênes, who worked with Lonergan on “Empathy” and on the 2021 series “Audrey’s Back,” stars as the titular Denise. The cast also includes Claude Legault, Gilles Renaud, Katrine Deniset and Micheline Marchildon.
“I am thrilled to have the privilege to work with such an incredible cast, and also to work on a Manitoba/Quebec co-production that will show the reality of the French community in Manitoba.”
“Denise sans Denis” is scheduled to begin principle photography in Winnipeg in May, with additional shooting set to take place in the subarctic port town of Churchill on Hudson Bay before heading to Dublin, Ireland.
“We’re thrilled to be collaborating with Guillaume, as well as our co-producer Laurent Allaire from Chasseur Films, on ‘Denise sans Denis,’” said Janelle Wookey.
“It’s a huge point of pride for us to showcase so many local talents from Winnipeg on this project. We’re also especially excited to be telling a story centered on a woman in her sixties, bringing forward a voice and a perspective that too rarely gets the spotlight today. Jérémie and I have many Denises in our lives who raised us and whose vital roles in life and in society are all too thankless. This film feels like a chance to finally give them the recognition they so deserve.”
Janelle Wookey and Jérémie Wookey are being featured this year at Series Mania’s Canada’s Producers to Watch program.
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