March 12, 2020. COVID-19 has just been declared a global pandemic, confinement measures are being implemented all across the world. Fanny, Samuel, Marianne and Daniel, four Montrealers from very different backgrounds, must now adapt to this new reality. What they believe to be a temporary situation will turn into a long ordeal that will change their lives forever. Between reality and fiction, Première vague is a portrait of the first 100 days of the pandemic in the city of Montreal, Canada.
Mère
While away in Mexico, Karine and Estelle witness the preparation and rejoicing of the “Day of the Dead”. Inspired by the beauty of the ritual and the fine spiritual humor of their hosts, they will soon learn to see their sister’s recent tragic death in a more light-hearted manner.
Fourteen-year old Juliette lives in the country with her father and her older brother. When Juliette was younger, her mother left the family to pursue her career in New York; from that moment, Juliette started to gain weight. Today, she’s not obese, but she’s clearly the heaviest girl at her high school. But that doesn’t stop her from being vivacious, funny and unrepentantly rebellious. Juliette has big dreams: she wants to throw the best parties, move to New York to live with her mother, and date the most gorgeous guy in her school, an older boy who is about to graduate. In short, she wants everything she can’t have—which sometimes makes her forget to appreciate those who really love her. We follow this brazen and endearing girl during her hectic last few weeks before summer vacation, and watch as she does some growing up—but not too much.
Hôtesse
Estelle, 34, wife and mother of the family without history, sinks into a tidy, predictable life. But a series of events puts her identity in question. Worse, she realizes that the crux of the crisis is sexual. She decides to organize a "threesome". Challenge away from his comfort zone. She plunges into this mad quest, resulting with her spouse who feels just as incompetent.
Suzanne
Paul à Québec is quite simply about life, at its happiest and at its most challenging. Paul and his in-laws offer us a window onto the everyday life of the Beaulieu family, but we also witness the decline of his father-in-law, Roland. Paul à Québec is a hymn to life that reminds us, among other things, of the beauty of those small moments when, in spite of the farewells, life shows us how important it is to savour every instant.
