Blanche

Although my town is too far into Michigan to pick up the excellent programming of the CBC, it is available in the Detroit area. THE STORY OF BLANCHE was on once a week, and frankly I found it fascinating, representative of the run of quality of Canadian made-for-TV films. Naturellement it was dubbed in English, and a good job.

I liked it: a) 1920s-30s period piece, b) exotic locales(!) Montreal and very rural Quebec, c) recalling the women of my family like my grandmother, nurses.

There was something else less quantifiable, the portrayal of Blanche herself, whose name in translation is significant. I found her fascinating, and not only because the actress is attractive. She portrays -- or so it seems to my untrained eye -- the French-Canadian ideal woman, or at least the ideal before the "Quiet Revolution," if we are to flatter the urban intelligensia as the whole population. There is a strength of quiet purity. Blanche tends to be angelic, but an angel who meets life with its shirt off: first the impossible (formal medical study in a well crafted scene), then the fall back position, nursing (first to high society in the "Square Mile," then in the bush). She rejects the possibilities of a pampered but dominated doctor's wife to extend herself to those who have no options. What an aesthete would consider "smarmy" I find inspiring, but then I am the progeny of considerable women, and THE STORY OF BLANCHE speaks to such.

Following Blanche Pronovost (Pascale Bussieres), one of 9 siblings under a single mother in 1930's Quebec, and her impoverished upbringing, education in medicine in Montreal, and eventual young adult life as a nurse in rural Abitibi. A definite drama, with plenty of relationships, love, and loss, I teared up more than once. The series pulls hard at the heart strings with hardships and tough choices throughout, and as a period piece doing well to represent the times I couldn't help but sympathize and appreciate. Also along with a period piece even if more recent comes relatively large, impressive sets, and even more so gorgeous wardrobe, was great. Bussieres carries the show with her performance, honestly incredible, and the rest of the cast does well throughout, all was believable. The writing and plot was also good, but is where some lost me, especially towards the end, where things feel unnecessarily rushed and a bit out of place. I also realized just near the end that this was actually a sequel to a previous series Emelie (aka Les Filles de Caleb, and based on novels of the same name), which followed Blanche's mother (and absent father). Which perhaps explains some of the writing choices and certainly explains the kinda bad and very noticeable aging make up and fake beard on the young actors playing Blanche's parents, as they wanted to keep the same actors as the previous. Both series are available in french on Tou tv, however I'm unsure if the first series has ever been subbed for english. Finally, as the series is locked in the 4:3 ratio and is considerably grainy, I'm going to guess was filmed originally on tape, or tape is all that was preserved; these types of shows feel ripe for all the new upscaling capabilities. If you don't mind the picture quality, the series itself was a treat, I quite enjoyed it. If you like romance period dramas I would certainly recommend.

This will not be a review; rather a talk from the heart. I remember that I have watched Blanche through the second channel of our national TV, where it used to be aired early in the morning. I remember that was around 1996 or 1997, back when I was a teen. And I remember that I fell in love with (Pascale Bussières)'s image as (Blanche Pronovost)!

I adored every second of her. It was very sad watching a scene that didn't have her. I was fascinated by her sparkling eyes, cute face, and smooth voice. Not to mention her decorous costumes, and that oblique hat. I wished running into her, or any other girl like her, to live into those eyes, forever!

(Blanche Pronovost) wasn't less good. I can't forget her painstaking character, or her struggle with the priest, which was in fact a struggle between science and religious fanaticism. When they fought over which to build first; a hospital or a church, I still memorize her line: "Without hospital; you won't find prayers for your church.", what a great logic!

So I loved Blanche; the TV series, Blanche; the character, but not (Bussières) anymore. Strangely, after watching her in some photos from the series before writing this, I found out that she doesn't have any effect over me now. I even questioned myself: "So this is who bewitched me once?!". Maybe my taste differed. Or maybe hearts are illogical anyway!