Guillaume Lonergan, the director behind last year's Series Mania Audience Award winner "Empathy," is making his feature film debut with "Denise sans Denis," a dark comedy starring frequent collaborator Josée Deschênes. The film, written by Paul Ruban, follows a 60-year-old school principal determined to break free from a lifetime of self-sacrifice—only to trigger increasingly chaotic consequences when she finally chooses herself.
Canadian producers Wookey Films and Chasseurs Films are backing the project, which begins principal photography in Winnipeg this May before moving to the subarctic port town of Churchill on Hudson Bay and concluding in Dublin, Ireland.
"I'm glad to start the journey of directing 'Denise sans Denis' with Wookey Films and Chasseur Films," Lonergan said, noting thematic connections to his television work. "Very much like the series I helmed in the past, like 'Empathy' and 'The Glass House,' 'Denise Without Denis' mixes comedy and drama, realism and dreamlike moments."
Set against Winnipeg's landscape, the story centers on Denise, a devoted school principal days before retirement who plans to leave her husband after decades of putting everyone else first. Her ecosystem of neediness includes a well-meaning but chronically disappointing spouse, a school full of crises, a self-absorbed daughter with unruly grandkids, and an aging father whose enthusiastic nudism keeps getting him expelled from seniors' homes.
"Denise wants to be free, live the years she has left on her own terms instead of always putting other people first," Lonergan explained. "The problem is, something always happens that prevents her from pulling the trigger and escaping her old life."
The cast includes Claude Legault, Gilles Renaud, Katrine Deniset, and Micheline Marchildon alongside Deschênes in the titular role. For Lonergan, the project represents an opportunity to showcase Manitoba's French community while exploring themes of liberation and consequence.
"I am thrilled to have the privilege to work with such an incredible cast, and also to work on a Manitoba/Quebec co-production that will show the reality of the French community in Manitoba," he said.
The film is produced by sibling duo Janelle and Jérémie Wookey of Winnipeg-based Wookey Films alongside Laurent Allaire of Chasseurs Films in Quebec. For the Wookeys, the project carries personal resonance beyond its commercial prospects.
"We're also especially excited to be telling a story centered on a woman in her sixties, bringing forward a voice and a perspective that too rarely gets the spotlight today. Jérémie and I have many Denises in our lives who raised us and whose vital roles in life and in society are all too thankless. This film feels like a chance to finally give them the recognition they so deserve." — Janelle Wookey
The Wookey siblings are being featured this year at Series Mania's Canada Producers to Watch program, adding industry recognition to their growing profile in Canadian independent film.
Lonergan's television work has established him as a director capable of balancing tonal complexity—a skill that appears central to "Denise sans Denis." The film promises to be "darkly funny, biting and unexpectedly heartfelt" as it explores what happens when a woman finally dares to choose herself, even if everything around her burns in the process.
The international shooting schedule, spanning from Manitoba's prairies to Ireland's capital, suggests ambitious scope for what the producers describe as an intimate character study. With Lonergan's track record in television drama and the creative team's commitment to showcasing underrepresented voices, "Denise sans Denis" positions itself as both artistic statement and commercial venture in the evolving landscape of Canadian cinema.