Writing
Psychiatrist Henri Lacombe heads the National Institute of Mental Health. Day after day, his mission is to ease the suffering of his patients. His partner, Anne Beaulieu, is a consultant psychologist in a private clinic. The two deal with the ups and downs of everyday family life with their two children, Marine and William. Henri's world turns upside down the day Anne doesn't show up at the restaurant where they are supposed to meet. What happened to him?
Set in contemporary Montreal, “This Life” is a family saga focusing on Natalie Lawson, an accomplished columnist and single mother in her early forties whose terminal cancer diagnosis sends her on a quest to prepare her teenage children for life without her. Her tight-knit family – sister, two brothers and parents – do the best they can to help her, while coping with their own responses to this revelation.
Nathalie Lapointe is in her early forties, a single mother of three with a successful career as columnist at a major newspaper. Just as she’s starting to think she might be able to pay more attention to her own needs, she gets terrible news: the cancer from which she recovered two years previously is back. How can she break the news to her kids? How can the family plan for the future with this sword of Damocles hanging over them? Despite the shock, life goes on. Nathalie must cope with evolving circumstances at the paper as well as at home. She wonders if she can allow herself to fall in love with her daughters’ school principal. As for her children, they must deal with their own teenage life challenges, all the while knowing that their mother may soon be gone. Nathalie’s best friend and neighbor is particularly hard-hit by the news: she’s already suffering from her husband’s infidelity and from the absence of her son, who is overseas. Nathalie’s misfortune also has a powerful effect on her three siblings. They must re-think their priorities at a time when all three are facing crucial choices in their emotional and professional lives. For Nathalie’s parents Janine and Gérard, her illness makes no sense. How do you face the very real possibility that your child will die before you?
As manager of a talent agency she inherited from her father, Sophie Paquin, single and afraid of commitment, lives through a series of events outrageous enough to make the tabloids. Double betrayals, one-night stands with lifetime consequences, secrets, lies, a temperamental mother and an ex-con brother, she survives a dizzying array of ups and downs without ever losing hope or her smile.
Hubert is a good-looking guy and a well-known, talented tattoo artist. Love isn't one of his top priorities, and neither is family. And then there's Fanny, a hard-working, dedicated social worker who has trouble keeping her working life separate from her private life. Guillaume, her boyfriend of the last seven years, understands her and gives her his unconditional support. They're trying for their first baby. So nothing predestined Hubert and Fanny to meet. But during a hold-up, they experience the most intense emotions they've ever felt. During the time when they're fearing for their lives, they rely on each other to survive. After the event, an irresistible desire to see each other again compels them to wonder whether spending a few hours together is really enough to change the course of their lives.​​​​​​
After a ten-year voluntary exile in Paris, Anna Brodeur returns to Quebec in exceptional circumstances. Her return causes a tidal wave among her loved ones. Neither her mother Monique, who had almost forgotten the existence of her only daughter, nor her best friend Patrick, director of a public relations agency, nor her ex, Antoine, knew where she was hiding. After all these years of silence, Anna discovers that reconnecting with her somewhat twisted entourage and rebuilding her life is not as simple as she had hoped.
A government ministry's fast-rising head of security asks a shadowy fixer, Meursault, to steal a bag from an armored truck. Meursault goes to Théo, a former night club owner, in prison for two years on false charges, who's being released in exchange for information about Montreal's underworld. Théo agrees to steal the bag for money and safe passage to the US for himself and his son Robin. Théo brings in two helpers, Gilder, ex-con and set designer, and Roxanne, Gilder's friend, a tough-minded petty thief. Their elaborate plan blows up when a guard, Marcel, takes his responsibilities too seriously. What happens to father and son? Will any of the thieves escape?
