Nelly

[projekktor id=’26744′]

Nelly is a French-Canadian film written and directed by Anne Émond (Our Loved Ones (Les êtres chers)). The film premiered in the Vanguard programme at the Toronto International Film Festival last year and stars Mylène Mackay, Mylia Corbeil-Gauvreau, Mickaël Gouin, Sylvie Drapeau, and Catherine Brunet.

A film inspired by the life and work of Nelly Arcan. The portrait of a fragmented woman, lost between irreconcilable identities: writer, lover, call girl and star. Several women in one, navigating between great exaltation and great disenchantment. A film mirror of a violent life and a radical work; a tribute to a dense writing, chilling and necessary.

Talking to The Globe and Mail, Émond discussed her interest in Nelly Arcan’s life. “I’ve always been fascinated by Nelly Arcan – and when she died in 2009 I cried as if it had been my sister. I didn’t know why, because I’d never met her, but I felt close to her and understood a bit of her character. I knew I wanted to make a movie about her, but I didn’t know if it would be an adaptation of one of her books, a biopic or something strange – like I think I did with this film – that combines parts of her life and parts of her books.”

Nelly is rated 18A.