Boulevard Pérusse

In 1965, two men took the stage for a heated verbal sparring match in Cambridge, with the writer James Baldwin facing the conservative intellectual William F. Buckley Jr. The former dismantled the myth of the American dream, arguing that it was created at the expense of African-Americans. The latter defended the notion of the United States as a meritocracy, convinced that inequality comes down to individual effort rather than a history of oppression. Two visions of the world collided in a debate that has taken on mythic dimensions thanks to archival footage.  

More than 25 years after its original release, Guillaume Corbeil and Marc St-Martin revisit Louis Saia’s film — based on an original idea by Richard Goudreau and a screenplay by Christian Fournier — by bringing it to the stage. It’s a chance to reunite with Quebec’s most famous hockey team (okay, maybe the second most famous…) and to remember the importance of mental toughness. 

A strike is on at the sawmill, reeking of sweat and lust. Beyond the picket lines, hungry eyes turn to Querelle, a worker who is impossibly handsome, perfectly free, and perhaps dangerous. Under the eyes of Jézabel, one of the few female workers at the mill, his provocative presence stirs up masculine desire and virility. Bottles fly and bats swing as rage explodes into violence.