When Les Filles du Roi debuted at The Cultch’s York Theatre in 2018, this very paper sang its praises. Set in Kanien’kéha:ka territory in 1665, the trilingual musical (in Kanien'kéha, French, and English) explores the complexities of history: the biting edge of settler Christianity, and the power of communication. And now it’s on the silver screen! 

Director Corey Payette—who also directed the original production, wrote the music, plays hand-drum for the score, and co-wrote the script and lyrics with actor Julie McIsaac (who plays Marie-Jeanne)—tenderly brings the audience into the film’s world. The story is seen through the eyes of Marie-Jeanne, Mohawk youth Kateri (Kaitlyn Yott), and Jean-Baptiste (Raes Calvert), who, like much of the rest of the cast, also reprise their roles from the original stage production. Marie-Jeanne has come to Canada with an idealized concept of what her life would be, and quickly comes to realize the fort isn’t what she wants.

The film embraces the medium shift, mixing scenes in physical locations with elements that feel more theatrical: a limited chorus, occasional synchronized dance numbers, and some sections presented evocatively in a studio-esque space rather than photographically. Lighting helps ground scenes: the stark blueness of winter casts cool shadows within the fort, contrasting with suffused warmth outdoors, or the incandescent orange of a hopeful lantern.

By reframing history through a feminist, Indigenous lens, examining well-trod colonial stories from other perspectives, the film centres cultural dialogue. Kateri is drawn to the French settlement; Marie-Jeanne to the matrilineal Kanien’kéha:ka society outside the suffocating walls of the fort. The narrative may wrap up a little too neatly at the end considering all the complex forces at play, but hey—it’s a musical.

Les Filles du Roi at the Vancouver International Film Festival

October 8: 12:30pm, The Rio Theatre