Clémence DesRochers is still as funny, interesting and endowed with a legendary sense of repartee. If the 88-year-old grande dame says she has “finished providing the show”, there is no doubt that it was her years on stage, creations and laughter that allowed her to keep her heart young.
The pandemic, Clémence DesRochers explains that she did not experience it so badly, all things considered, quiet as a couple in her country house in the Eastern Townships. Of course, he missed dinners with friends, but drawing and writing made up for the absences linked to confinement.
This is not the first time that art has served as a balm to soften difficult times. “It was my life, basically, confides the spokesperson for the Impatients. Being on stage, I could be somewhere other than in my sadness. »
Les Impatients – who celebrated through the exhibition Nice to meet you ! their thirtieth anniversary on May 5 – is an organization whose mission is to help people with mental health problems through artistic expression.
touched
That he was asked to be a spokesperson touched the comedian and actress, who was first part of the group Les Femmeuses, which presented exhibitions of female artists.
“Bringing people out of great loneliness through music, dance and object creation workshops, all of this resonates with me, says the one who – in all humility, she insists – made a point of sending them his own designs. By creating, we can get out of this difficulty in living, we get out of a state of mind and a reality that is too heavy. »
The proof of the effectiveness of Les Impatients: Clémence made a friend and correspondent there in his thirties, a young man with Asperger’s syndrome, gifted in painting, who evolved a lot through the writings shared with the great lady of humor. enough to write a book called Clemence and I whose profits are donated to the cause.
Great career
Humorist, actress, singer, poet, scriptwriter, painter, Clémence DesRochers has lived several artistic lives. On TV, she starred in the first version of the soap opera The Plouffe Family. The older ones remember her in Grujot and Delicate and What a family ! In the cinema, we saw it recently in The great seduction.
In her long career, she has created several comedy shows and narrated “la vie de factrie”. In a collection, she paid tribute to her father and poet Alfred DesRochers. She wrote and sang I will make a gardenone of the most beautiful songs in the Quebec repertoire.
This busy career earned her the medal of Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Québec in 2001. After bidding farewell to the stage in 2008, she received the Governor General’s Award for the Performing Arts for Directing artistic in 2009.
“I don’t do stage shows anymore,” explains the artist when asked what his next projects are. I have reached a point in my life where I am quoted and where I am sometimes honored. There is also a book about my life coming. »
► From the Les Impatients Collection, the exhibition Nice to meet you ! A look at thirty years of creation and hope is presented at 1700 La Poste (rue Notre-Dame Ouest in Montreal) until June 19.
The cultural diary of Clemency
At 88, Clémence DesRochers remains interested in culture. Here are the last five elements that furnished his leisure time.
◆ Last book read?
“ A book about the English painter David Hockney, a man to know, and the novel Mrs Hayat by Ahmet Altan [Prix Femina étranger 2021]which I loved. »
◆ Last movie watched?
“ The documentary wonder boy which tells the story of the artistic director of the Balmain fashion house. It is about his work, but also about his life, while he is looking for his biological parents. »
◆ Last show seen?
” I haven’t been to see any shows for a very long time, because I live in the countryside, but I saw a show partially based on my life, put on by an amateur troupe. »
◆ Last album listened to?
“ I listen to a lot of classical music when I draw, and I’ve been drawing a lot lately. I particularly like the pianist Glenn Gould and the music of Bach played by Alexandre Tharaud. »
◆ Last thing written?
“ I write handwritten letters that I send to a friend. I like going to the post office. I put several letters written during the week in the same envelope, otherwise it would cost me a lot of stamps. »
Reference-www.journaldemontreal.com