Quebec child abuse case retold in new film
Last Updated: Wednesday, July 6, 2005 | 5:49 PM ET
CBC Arts
The appalling true story of abused and murdered child Aurore Gagnon has been burned into the collective memory of French-speaking Quebecers, with more than 10 books, plays and films telling slightly different versions of the "Gagnon Affair" over the years.
The latest retelling, entitled Aurore, is the directorial debut of Luc Dionne, the Quebec screenwriter best known for his TV work and last year's hit film Monica la mitraille. The film is based on the 1990 book Aurore: la vraie histoire (The True Story) by André Mathieu.
The filmmakers wanted to retell the story because children are still being abused today, producer Denise Robert told CBC News.
'Aurore' will be the latest in a series of films, books, plays and TV dramatizations about the Gagnon Affair. (Courtesy: Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm)
"We tried to shoot it with no sensationalism," Robert said. "Just tell the story. That's all."
Rather than focus on the horrific details of the abuse, audiences should consider the roles of the neighbours and other villagers, some of whom knew about the abuse but didn't act to help Gagnon until it was too late, said Rémy Girard, the acclaimed Barbarian Invasions star who plays the justice of the peace and owner of a general store in Aurore.
"It's not important to focus on the little girl's suffering, but why a thing like this could happen in a place where everybody knows everybody," Girard said.
In February 1920, 10-year-old Gagnon died under suspicious circumstances at her home in the parish of Ste. Philomène de Fortierville, in Lotbinière, Que. A coroner's inquest eventually found that the young girl had been poisoned and also died of general ill health, with her body covered by untreated wounds.
Gagnon's father and stepmother were subsequently arrested and tried separately for her death. At trial, it was revealed that Gagnon's stepmother Marie-Anne Houde, had been routinely subjecting the young girl to vicious beatings, psychological and physical torture and, sometimes, poisoning her with household cleaners.
Houde was quickly convicted of murder and sentenced to death, but her execution was later commuted to life imprisonment. Farmer and logger Télesphore Gagnon, Aurore's father, was convicted of the lesser charge of manslaughter and served only five years of a life imprisonment sentence.
The story of Aurore Gagnon, dubbed "the child martyr," was a huge media sensation at the time and inspired a play the year after her death. By the 1950s, Aurore, l'enfant martyre had reportedly been staged more than 5,000 times across Canada and in the eastern U.S.
The producers of Aurore hope the new film will follow in the footsteps of recent Quebec period films that have been box offices hits. Though they realize that the film may not find an audience outside of the province, a spokesperson for Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm said that producers are happy to continue making Quebec stories for Quebec audiences.
