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.
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