Paule Baillargeon

Paule Baillargeon (born July 19, 1945) is a Canadian actress and film director. She won the Genie Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the film I've Heard the Mermaids Singing, and was a nominee for Best Director for The Sex of the Stars (Le Sexe des étoiles). Her film roles have included August 32nd on Earth (Un 32 août sur terre), Jesus of Montreal (Jésus de Montréal), A Woman in Transit (La Femme de l'hôtel), Réjeanne Padovani and Days of Darkness (L'Âge des ténèbres).

Baillargeon received a classical education at the Ursuline Convent in Quebec City and at the École Sophie-Barat in Montreal. She left the National Theatre School of Canada in 1969 without graduating and, along with Raymond Cloutier and others, founded the experimental theatre group Le Grand Cirque Ordinaire. For several years she participated in writing and performing in its collective creations, which had a marked effect on the theatre of Quebec during the late 1960s and early 1970s. The Great Ordinary Movie (Le Grand film ordinaire), released in 1971, is a documentary based on its first performance piece. Although the collective disbanded after its second film, Montreal Blues, Baillargeon’s key 1980 film co-directed with Frédérique Collin, La Cuisine rouge, adapted Le Grand Cirque’s Brechtian style to a fractured narrative about sexual stereotyping.

In 2002, she directed an NFB documentary about her friend, Claude Jutra. In 2009, Baillargeon was appointed as a filmmaker in residence by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). In 2011, the NFB released her autobiographical work Trente tableaux, an anthology film composed of 30 filmic portraits of her 66 years of life to date, including her experiences as a woman in Quebec's changing society.

She has received Quebec's two highest film honours: the Prix Albert-Tessier in 2009 and the 2012 Jutra Award for lifetime achievement.

Filmography As director Anastasie, oh! ma chérie - short film, 1977 La cuisine rouge - co-directed with Frédérique Collin, 1980 Sonia - short film, 1986 Solo - TV movie, 1991 Le complexe d'Édith - short film, 1991 The Sex of the Stars (Le sexe des étoiles) - 1993 Une famille comme les autres - TV documentary series, 1999-2000 Claude Jutra, portrait sur film - documentary, 2002 Jean-Pierre Perreault: Giant Steps (Le petit Jean-Pierre, le grand Perreault) - documentary short, 2004 Un cri au bonheur - anthology film, co-directed with various, 2007, aka Et il y avait la poésie Trente tableaux - feature documentary, 2011

As actress The Great Ordinary Movie (Le Grand film ordinaire) - 1971 Montreal Blues - 1972 Réjeanne Padovani - 1973 Before the Time Comes (Le Temps de l'avant) - 1975 Confidences of the Night (L'Amour blessé) - 1975 Gina - 1975 The Vultures (Les Vautours) - 1975 East End Hustle - 1976 The Late Blossom (Le soleil se lève en retard) - 1977 Panic (Panique) - 1977 A Woman in Transit (La Femme de l'hôtel) - 1984 The Dame in Colour (La Dame en couleurs) - 1985 I've Heard the Mermaids Singing - 1987 Jesus of Montreal (Jésus de Montréal) - 1989 Lessons on Life (Trois pommes à côté du sommeil) - 1989 Four Stiffs and a Trombone (L'assassin jouait du trombone) - 1991 Love Me (Love-moi) - 1991 Les Héritiers Duval - 1995-96 August 32nd on Earth (Un 32 août sur terre) - 1998 Ma voisine danse le ska - 2003 A Family Secret (Le Secret de ma mère) - 2006 Days of Darkness (L'Âge des ténèbres) - 2007 Mourning for Anna (Trois temps après la mort d'Anna) - 2010