Welcome to Global Breakouts, Deadline’s fortnightly strand in which we shine a spotlight on the TV shows and films killing it in their local territories. Breakout hits are emerging in pockets of the world all the time and it can be hard to keep track, so we’re doing the hard work for you.
Empathy (Empathie) is the latest from Quebec-born actor and screenwriter Florence Longpré, who has emerged as a singular voice with series including Can You Hear Me? (M’entends-tu?) and the award-winning Audrey’s Back (Audrey est Revenue). Her latest is Empathy, in which she plays Suzanne, a criminologist-turned-psychiatrist who works at a psychiatric institute in Montreal, where she meets an intriguing security guard and a variety of patients.
Name: Empathy (Empathie)
Country: Canada
Producer: Trio Orange
Seller: Beta Film, Trio Orange International (French-speaking territories)
Channels: Crave (Canada), Canal+ (France)
For fans of: In Treatment, Fleabag
Empathy (Empathie), the Series Mania-winning drama out of Quebec, Canada, explores mental illness with a deft blend of drama and humor.
Series creator Florence Longpré stars as Suzanne, a criminologist-turned-psychiatrist at a Montreal maximum-security psychiatric institute where she befriends security officer, Mortimer, played by French actor Thomas Ngijol. It quickly caught the attention of viewers in Canada, where it plays on streamer Crave, and France on Canal+. The series, however, was not meant to happen, Longpré tells Deadline.
“It was a big mistake,” she says. “I began writing a true-crime show and the first episode was about a psychopath, but I spoke with a lot of psychiatrists and I realized that was very boring. I like to speak about emotion and the experience of life, and a psychopath doesn’t have that empathy.”
Cue a change of direction. “I called my producer and said, “I’m so sorry, I’m gonna put this in the garbage… but I have found what I want to do; I want to talk about what’s in people’s heads, about mental health, and about a psychiatrist and a psychiatric hospital.’ That was the beginning of Empathy.”
Guillaume Lonergan directs the series, with Season 1 produced by Trio Orange in collaboration with Crave parent company Bell Media. It was picked up by French pay-TV giant Canal+, which then boarded Season 2 as a co-producer, the first time Canal+ and Crave have partnered in this way. Both players have been seeking more international co-productions, making it a perfect fit.
It was the first drama out of Quebec to play in competition at Series Mania and went on to win the event’s Audience Award this year. The critical acclaim goes hand-in-hand with commercial success, with Canal+ saying it had topped 10 million views on its service and Crave’s calling it a top-performing series.
The show homes in on the stories of troubled patients, as well as Suzanne, Mortimer and the hospital staff. It has been applauded for talking about mental health with heart and wit. “It’s about seeing the soul of people, their humanity, and not just the sickness,” Longpré explains. “It wasn’t meant to have ‘a message.’ That’s just what I discovered when I was writing. There are some people who have such a tough life and on top of that they have mental health issues, and that can push them to commit crimes.”
The lead character of Suzanne has had her own experience of mental health issues that we learn more about as the story unfolds. “She knows the suffering that comes with that,” says Longpré. “That’s a reason she has this sensitivity for the patients. She was sick and endured a lot of suffering. She cries a lot, she laughs a lot, and in one way she doesn’t care. That’s a kind of freedom, and that was also very cool to play.”
Producer-distributor Beta Film had international sales on Audrey’s Back (Audrey est Revenue), Longpré’s previous series that has won several awards and scored big European sales with the likes of RAI in Italy and Canal+ in France. Beta has snagged rights to Empathy (excluding French-speaking territories).
French-language dramas from Canada do not have a major tradition of traveling, but there’s a sense Empathy will break the mould just as Audrey’s Back and Can You Hear Me? (M’entends-tu?) previously did. Longpré, a multi-hyphenate widely regarded as one of the most distinctive voices currently working in Canada, is on the rise. She signed with Curate after the Series Mania win, and it’s known she’s been developing her first English-language title.
Empathy was on Beta’s slate at the MIPCOM market in Cannes so international deals, so deals are close. “We are very proud to once more collaborate with Florence Longpré,” Oliver Bachert, Beta Film’s Chief Distribution Officer tells Deadline. “With great sensitivity and from a compassionate yet honest perspective, the series explores the topic of mental health, without falling into cliches or reinforcing stigma.”