Nelly weaves a tapestry of real and fiction in telling the story of 3 people within 1 person. There is Nelly Arcan, real-life author and sex worker, who commits suicide at the age of 36. Isabelle Fortier is a young woman who later becomes Nelly Arcan. Then there is Cynthia, the nom de plume for the sex work done by Fortier/Arcan.
Anne Émond tells these stories in a non-linear fashion, bouncing around in various chapters in Arcan's life. A lot of the text is drawn from her books, especially her debut novel Putain (Whore). The dialogue is crucial to gathering bits and pieces about these people. For a biography film, we know very little about who Arcan is.
TIFF Rising Star 2016 Mylène Mackay (then known as Mylène MacKay) dominates the screen with the difficult challenge of portraying who Arcan/Cynthia is. Mylia Corbeil-Gavreau portrays her as Isabelle Fortier. Mackay goes with the flow of whoever she is in the moment. Her portrayal of a confident sex worker (Cynthia) is a convincing contrast to the vulnerable writer (Arcan).
We meet people who come in and out of Arcan's life including her long-time friend Suzanne (Sylvie Drapeau), her publisher Mathieu (Francis Leplay), and her boyfriend Francois (Mickaël Gouin, also in Our Loved Ones). Most of the time Arcan is alone, even during sex with men.
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The small windows are worth watching. Arcan is vulnerable about revealing too much of her self in the novels. She has great insecurities over the potential failure of future novels. She lies when she first becomes a novelist and says she is 26, because she wanted to be published before she was 30.
The best way to watch Nelly is to go with the flow wherever Émond takes the viewer. Her previous films of note include Nuit #1, which was a bit confusing, and Our Loved Ones, which was a delight.
If you approach this film wanting to know why these people do what they do, you are likely to be disappointed. If you want your reality separated from fiction, this is not your film. Some scenes are real, some blend in from the books. You can always discover Arcan after the film by reading her books. You just have to go along for the ride in Nelly, but definitely wear your seatbelt.
video credit: YouTube/TheCdnAcademy
photo credit: Nelly
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