The timing couldn't be better for Les Furies, Quebec's groundbreaking female sports comedy that premiered in Montreal last week. Writer and star Gabrielle Côté believes the film perfectly captures the moment when women's sports are pushing into the mainstream like never before.
A New Era for Women's Sports
At the Montreal premiere, the audience included numerous local female athletes, notably Montreal Victoire stars Marie-Philip Poulin and Laura Stacey, along with players from the women's soccer team Montreal Roses and athletes from other disciplines. Gabrielle Côté sees this as evidence of the growing visibility of women's sports.
"The film underlines the new bigger presence of women in sports," Côté said in a phone interview. "It's like the film is profiting from this good timing, but is also contributing to this good timing for women's sports."
Les Boys Meets Roller Derby
Many are already comparing Les Furies to Les Boys, the incredibly popular series of Quebec comedies about a men's garage-league hockey team that broke box-office records in the 1990s. Côté welcomes the comparison and acknowledges drawing inspiration from classic sports comedies.
"I grew up watching sports comedies," said Côté. "Sports comedies really bring people together. There's a real structure we all know. What I wanted to do is to take that formula and give it a new twist."
That twist involves women playing roller derby. The film is being billed as the first Québécois female-focused sports comedy, set in the small town of Waterloo in the Eastern Townships.
From Anger Management to Roller Derby
The story follows a group of women in anger-management sessions who decide to channel their rage into forming a roller derby team. The female hockey players have been kicked out of the local arena due to the arrival of a semi-professional men's hockey team and are looking for something else to do.
Alongside Côté, the cast includes Anne-Élisabeth Bossé, Juliette Gosselin, Debbie Lynch-White, Sandrine Bisson and France Castel. The film is described as super funny and very refreshing, following the classic sports comedy structure while bringing something new to the genre.
Côté's journey to creating Les Furies began when she was studying at École nationale de l'humour and started writing a screenplay about a women's garage-league hockey team. Her discovery of the 2009 Drew Barrymore film Whip It about roller derby changed everything.
"It's a sport that's so rich visually," Côté explained. "It attracts all types of women, all types of body types. It attracts women who've been told all their lives they're not good enough to play sports. Inclusiveness, diversity are part of the core values of this sport."
The film is playing with English subtitles at the Cineplex Forum under the title The Furies throughout the weekend, offering Montreal audiences a chance to experience this fresh take on the sports comedy genre.
