FILM
SCRIPT
WINTER PASSAGE An Original Screenplay by Paul Raymond Côté and Constantina Mitchell Registered: WGAe R04160-00 Contact:
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Logline
Will crossing
an ocean make it possible for Jean Luc de Montigny to escape his past? In 1734,
he sails to New France, hoping to free himself from the memory of the
unspeakable. What he didn’t count on was meeting Marie Claire, a woman
born in the settlement with her own obsessive visions. The love that grows
between the aristocrat and the laundress brings the ghosts haunting them both
to the foreground forcing Jean Luc and Marie Claire to confront head-on the
very thing they had been desperately trying to avoid.
Synopsis
Based on the
novel by the same title released in October 2005 by Behler Publications, Winter Passage opens in Indian summer,
1734. The baron Jean Luc de Montigny, a doctor in his early thirties, has gone
to Quebec City, the capital of one of France’s New World colonies, with
his young son ostensibly to settle the estate of his uncle, the Viscount Louis
de Montigny. His decision to make the difficult and unexpected voyage is
motivated however by a personal tragedy that is hinted at by a thread of dreams
and visions that runs throughout his turbulent experiences as the dead and the
living strive to communicate beyond death’s boundaries.
Within hours of
his arrival, still exhausted from the long ocean passage, he is swept into an
ethical and emotional maelstrom when he witnesses the brutal punishment and
execution of Black and Indian slaves in the town square. It is there that he
sees Marie Claire, a woman born in the French settlement whose son and husband
were ruthlessly slain four months earlier by a Pawnee slave on the run. Soon
after, a chance encounter brings Jean Luc and Marie Claire together once again
and becomes the impetus for an odyssey into the tormented landscapes of their
memories.
Caught between
past and present, Jean Luc and Marie Claire struggle against the temptation to
join those they have lost. Despite their social differences, and amidst
accusations of sorcery and infanticide, they defy the barriers that separate
them and allow the bond between them to grow. Each time they meet, she recounts
a portion of her tale, bringing him progressively further into her inner world
of intense desire and brutality. But their passion is bittersweet. The
initially restrained relationship moves toward a sensuality that calls forth
the elegance and ferocity of the period to become the gateway to the
destructive frenzy locked in their minds. As Jean Luc listens to her reveal the
details of the gruesome murder of her son and husband, her saga becomes
intertwined with his. In the telling process based on flashbacks, two radically
disparate social milieus are juxtaposed: his is one of art, wealth, and luxury;
hers, an existence of simplicity, deprivation, and hardship. It is only after
Marie Claire relives the horror and violence with Jean Luc that that he is
finally able to openly confront the dark truth and recount to her what he has
been relentlessly trying to eradicate from his memory: the rape and murder of
his wife, and murder of his daughter.
Slavery
functions as a backdrop for the bondage of love and remembrance, mirroring the
characters' struggle to free themselves from their personal tragedies. How Jean
Luc ultimately decides to deal with his feelings of self-blame is influenced by
what he learns during conversations with Desjardins, a fur trader in the local
tavern–conversations that revolve around the native shaman traditions and
slavery. The central dilemma focuses on whether Jean Luc and Marie Claire will
forever remain slaves to their memories or whether their love for each other
will allow them to break the emotional chains holding them captive. In turn,
Jean Luc must decide whether to let go of his former life in France and take
over his uncle’s estate–and its bonded servants–or return to
Bordeaux and try to bring the men who murdered his wife and daughter to
justice.
“Winter
Passage” placed in the following competitions:
• Finalist. The 2001 ACES Competition (Artistic and Creative
Excellence in Screenwriting, Loch Ness Productions)
• One of top ten
finalists in the 1st “Winner Take All Screenwriting Competition”
(2002)
• Quarter finalist. The 2002 “Hollywood’s Next
Success Screenwriting Contest”
• Finalist. The 2002 “Practical Paradox”
biannual screenwriting competition (competition #3)
• Honourable
mention. 9th annual
“Writer’s Network Screenplay & Fiction Competition”
• Finalist. New Century Writer Awards 2002
screenplay competition. One of 66
scripts selected out of 650.
• Honourable mention, 3rd
annual FilmMakers Screenplay Competition 2002-2003. Number of entries: 757.
• Finalist. Script Magazine Open Door Contest
2004. Over 1000 entries.
Published Works We Have
Authored