A party clown has nothing to smile about.

Director’s Statement

The idea for my film was inspired by the real life story of my main actor, Alain Boucher, whom I had worked with on my first short film, “Mirage“. During the shoot Alain confessed that he was a single parent and that his 8 year old daughter, Rosalie, was dying of leukemia. He shared with me how difficult it was for him to live off of his acting career, while caring for his daughter. The next summer Alain told me that his daughter had passed away. I was extremely touched by his story and I wanted to write a script based on his experience of the tragedy that he went through and the heartbreak that he felt.

I chose for him to be a clown as it is the most demanding profession in the field of entertainment that I can imagine. Being a clown is just like acting, but the only difference is that a clown has to constantly make other people happy even if he is not. I also decided to include the politics of Quebec; Alain is French Canadian, and a victim of many cultural obstacles I used the allegorical positioning of Alain / “Joey” performing as a clown at a private party for a wealthy Quebec Anglophone family. The family’s disdain for him is my reference to the historical origins of the French / English problems in Canada.

Although I have included many subtleties and nuances in my film, I hope that the intense heart-felt love and emotion that “Joey” feels for his daughter is apparent.