Filmmaker, producer and writer Claude Fournier died Thursday at age 91 of a heart attack. His brother Guy Fournier made the announcement in the Journal.
The filmmaker spent his last days at the Montreal University Hospital Center after suffering a heart attack during a trip to Martinique.
“Losing your twin brother is hard,” author and screenwriter Guy Fournier chimed in yesterday, his voice laced with emotion.
“We spent our lives together and we did a lot of the same work. Last summer, we had dinner together for our anniversary and I said to him: I didn’t know we were going to be 92. He asked me: Why do you say that? I answered him: I don’t know, it’s I have a feeling…
“So I don’t know if I’m going to surrender, but he won’t.”
Claude Fournier was vacationing in Martinique with his wife Marie-José Raymond and some friends when his health began to deteriorate last week.
“The day before he was to return, he felt very ill, so his friend, who is a doctor, said that perhaps he should go to the hospital in Fort-de-France. But Claude told him that he wanted to return to Montreal. And since his doctor friend was returning by plane, as he was, He said he would take care of him.
Back in Montreal, Claude Fournier’s doctor friend again advised him to go to the hospital, but the filmmaker refused, pleading that a night’s sleep would put him back on his feet.
“But the next day (last Friday), Claude’s wife took him to the hospital by ambulance, and since then it got worse. He died today (Thursday) following a massive hemorrhage,” testified Guy Fournier, who was able to visit him at the hospital on Wednesday evening to greet him for the last time.
Lots of work
A prolific filmmaker, Claude Fournier leaves behind a wealth of work. We owe him the erotic comedy “Two Golden Women”, a cult film that was a huge success (about two million viewers) when it was released in 1970.
He also starred in “La pomme, la queue et les pips” (1974), “Les chats bottes” (1971), the comedy “I’m in!” (1997), Patrick Huard and Roy Dupuis and the romantic drama “I Love You Only” (2004).
The 1980s were particularly prosperous with the completion of several large-scale projects, such as the television series “Les Tisserands du Pouvoir” (1988) and the film “Bonheur d’occasion” (1983), an ambitious adaptation of the novel by Gabriel Roy. .
“The film he was most proud of was Bonheur d’Occasion,” insists Guy Fournier.
Member of Municipal Council
In November 2005, Claude Fournier was elected Municipal Councilor of Saint-Paul-d’Abbotsford, MRC de Rouville, Monterrey. In this election he won by 125 votes by 42 votes to his opponent.
At the same time, the filmmaker found himself at the center of a controversy after the airing of his “Felix Leclerc” series. Radio-Canada program director Mario Clement said the series was one of the worst he had ever seen on television; Statements that will take him to court.
In 2008, Quebec’s Superior Court ruled in favor of the Fournier-Raymond couple and ordered the SRC to pay $200,000 to plaintiffs seeking $4.3 million for defamation.
In 2009, he signed an autobiography called “À force de vivre”.
Elephant project
From 2008 to 2018, Claude Fournier and Marie-José Raymond directed the Éléphant Project: Memory of Quebec Cinema, a charity that aims to restore and make available all of Quebec’s film heritage. Together they have overseen the restoration of over 200 films.
“Claude Fournier is the center of our culture, our cinema, his passion and his commitment. Without his contribution and that of Marie-José Raymond, Elephant would never have seen the light of day. Condolences to his wife, his twin brother Guy Fournier and his relatives and friends,” Quebecor president and CEO Pierre-Karl Péladeau wrote on Twitter Thursday evening.
– In collaboration with QMI Agency
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