The Characters · Councillor Philippe Marchand
The man who read the room, then the room went quiet.
A councillor, 47, with a smile rehearsed in three expressions. He survived by being ahead of the curve. The story opens with Joseph standing over his body - and a photograph in a drawer no one was meant to see.
The councillor
Philippe Marchand, the face the city trusted
Philippe Marchand is 47, born and raised in Montreal, a city councillor who has learned to be whatever the room needs. Concerned, decisive, warm - he practises them in the mirror and keeps them in order. His wife gave him the Montblanc the year he was first elected; he signs everything with it, the eviction orders included.
He is the most powerful person in the story and the first to die. The film does not ask who killed him. It asks what was in the photograph he kept in the locked drawer - the one he looked at when he couldn’t sleep, and told no one about.
Ten things about Marchand you won’t read in the release
The obituary is tidy. The man wasn’t. Ten small rituals that made him who he was - and the one he hid.
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01
How he starts the day
He shaves, checks his watch against the news, and practises his smile in the mirror. Three expressions - concerned, decisive, warm - run through in order, to make sure they still fit.
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02
The one order that keeps him upright
A double espresso, served with a small glass of water. He drinks it standing at the kitchen counter, reading the morning headlines. He never sits.
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03
The meal he left behind
His mother’s pâté chinois - canned corn, ground beef, mashed potatoes, every Sunday in Quebec City. He hasn’t eaten it in years. It’s too ordinary for someone with his ambitions.
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04
What he reads when no one’s watching
Biographies of successful men. He doesn’t call it pleasure; he calls it research. He underlines the parts about leverage, about timing, about the importance of a good reputation.
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05
The power he wishes for
To know, in advance, which way the wind was blowing. He’s survived by being ahead of the curve. He wishes he could see the curve coming before anyone else.
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06
What he does when he can’t sleep
He gets up and walks to his home office. Opens the locked drawer. Looks at the photograph. Puts it away. Goes back to bed. He never tells anyone.
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07
What he carries
A Montblanc pen. His wife gave it to him when he was first elected. He signs everything with it - letters, contracts, the eviction orders. It feels like the right weight.
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08
The habit he can’t break
Checking his reflection. In windows, in car mirrors, in the polished marble of the City Hall lobby. He wants to see the man others see. He’s never sure he does.
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09
The sound that calms him
The whoosh of the metro train pulling into the station. It means he’s somewhere anonymous, somewhere no one knows his name. It lasts only a few seconds.
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10
The name he’d give a dog
César. A strong name, a classic name. A German Shepherd, something that looks imposing on the campaign trail. He’s never had time for a dog.
He signed the eviction orders with the same pen he signed his name.
THE CROSSING · character note
Voices from the cold
The sonic portrait of every soul in the story. Marchand’s score is the one he never played out loud - five songs about the man behind the reputation.
- 01CreepRadiohead
- 02Sympathy for the DevilDisturbed
- 03The Man Who Sold the WorldDavid Bowie
- 04Everybody KnowsLeonard Cohen
- 05Losing My ReligionR.E.M.