Pauline Julien, The Muse Of The Revolution

There is a new documentary produced by the NFB that follows the life

and times of the famous Quebecois singer and songwriter Pauline Julien.

She was partnered with poet Gerald Godin who became

a Quebec MLA. The piece frames Julien as the muse of the soverignists

during the buildup to the first referendum in 1980 on the question of whether the provincal PQ gov’t could begin the process of securing complete political independance from the rest of Canada.

The enthusiasm, joy, and passion of this couple fighting for soverignty with such charm, grace and style is affecting.

Because she was an exceptional performing artist and he was so gifted with the written word the record of their exchanges throughout this period are a work of art in themselves. One can see the connection to poet and singer Gilles Vigneault in the buildup to the first referendum which electrified it in a way the second referendum completely lacked. If the first was niave, youthful, romantic and utopic the second was somewhat middle aged comparatively relying on savy pragmatic strategy to drive it forward. Perhaps the most powerful moment in the doc is how this couple handled the emotional toll of defeat in the privacy of their home after the referendum was so firmly defeated by the electorate in 1980. The director Pascale Ferland framed this blow as a a loss the couple would never get over.

I personally talked with individuals who supported the second referendum who described the traumatic impact the loss of the first referendum had on them and their families. One woman was a small child at the time in Quebec City and vividly recalled the excitement her parents expressed at home prior to the vote and how they openly wept before their kids after news of defeat. She worked very hard supporting the second referendum in 1995 and as we all know the PQ lost again but this time by the very slimmest of margins. One can view the doc at the NFB

website.