Featuring Bianca Gervais: here are the first images from Club illico's “The Pearls” series

MISE À DAY

Single parenthood, early motherhood and female solidarity will be at the heart of the plots of the new series “The pearls”, which will be launched on May 11 on Club illico.

Starring Bianca Gervais in the lead role, the dramatic comedy written by Erika Soucy (“Léo”, “Les Murailles”) will tell the story of a loving, endearing and imperfect mother who unwittingly causes a storm in his small village on the Haute-Côte-Nord.

The official trailer was unveiled on Tuesday. We see the first images of the 13 half-hours directed by Hervé Baillargeon (“Six Degrees”) and produced by Encore Television, in collaboration with Quebecor Content.

Stéphanie Houle (Bianca Gervais) raises her “pearls” alone Laurence (Cassandra Latreille), 16, and Juliette (Anouk Tanguay), 9, to whom she gives absolutely everything. The teenager and the little girl have two different fathers who are very little involved in their education. When Stéphanie decides to finally think of herself and go south with her lover, preferring to say that she is taking part in a yoga retreat, she sets the stage for a small scandal that takes on enormous proportions, as often happens in the in a community where everyone knows each other.

Back home, Stephanie faces the concerns of those around her. Her best friend Cynthia (Sharon Fontaine-Ishpatao), who had to cover her ass, told everyone that Stephanie was depressed. This little lie takes on disproportionate proportions. Stéphanie must keep up appearances, but above all reassure her daughters. Wanting to improve the lot of her family, she will have to take it upon herself and realign herself with her priority: the well-being of her daughters.

“When the truth comes out, she becomes an outcast in the village” , Bianca Gervais told QMI Agency last June, a few weeks before filming began.

“To what extent do women have the right to be tired or not, what is expected of them, of motherhood? How much empathy or easy judgment do we have in society? She went to make love in the south and is the guy going to be judged like her? Are we dealing with a double standard? added the actress, who has been seen on our screens since the mid-1990s.

“The Pearls” also draws on the talent of actors Jonah Bacon, Chantal Baril, Anthony Bouchard, Isaac Brosseau, Normand Canac-Marquis, Claude Despins, Camille Felton, Bruno Marcil, Rosalie Pépin, Alex Pomerleau and Lucien Ratio. Note that the series also brings Linda Malo (“Jasmine”) back to the screen, whom we have not seen for 10 years, in “30 lives”. She plays Esther, the wife of Martin (Bruno Marcil), an influential North Coast entrepreneur.

As for Bianca Gervais, who directed the documentary “Mixmania: 20 years later” last year, we can also see her in the series “Les moments parfaits” on TVA and she is still in “Véronique et lesfantastiques” on the radio.