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“You Have to Give It the Love It Needs”: Editor Matthieu Bouchard on Two Women

A blond woman in a grey turtleneck and a brunette in a red sweater look at each other.Still from Two Women. Courtesy of Sundance Institute.

In Two Women, an adaptation of Claude Fournier’s Two Women in Gold (1970), two women, one struggling with depression and the other on a difficult maternity leave, find that misadventure and taboo make their lives a bit more invigorating. The World Cinema Dramatic Competition entry is directed by Chloé Robichaud (Days of Happiness, Sarah Prefers to Run).

Matthieu Bouchard, a veteran of TV comedy, took his first turn as a feature film editor on Two Women. He reflects on achieving that dream and helping Robichaud realize her vision below.

See all responses to our annual Sundance editor interviews here.

Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your being hired for this job?

Bouchard: 2025 marks the 20th anniversary of working as an editor, and it has always been a dream of mine to edit a feature film. After years of working with some of the top names in TV comedy in Québec, I had given up on that dream and was at peace with it. So, when Chloé phoned me, I thought she had mistaken me for another editor in Montréal with the same name as me. It turns out that Chloé was looking for an editor with a background in comedy to compliment her experience in drama, and the director I was working with at the time recommended me.

I am so grateful to both of them for giving me the chance to edit my first feature and live the Sundance experience.

Filmmaker: In terms of advancing your film from its earliest assembly to your final cut, what were your goals as an editor? What elements of the film did you want to enhance, or preserve, or tease out or totally reshape?

Bouchard: When I first watch the dailies, I keep an open mind while looking at the performances. I take notes of my first impressions, and I am attentive to the little details. I select my favorite bits that I make sure to use or give a try.

This particular movie has a mix of comedy and drama, and I really wanted to preserve the comedy aspect to make sure that we explored the full comedic potential of the scenes. Working with Chloé, we also wanted to challenge ourselves in the amount of shots that we used in certain scenes. We would ask ourselves, “How can we tell the story of the scene in the most efficient way possible?”

Filmmaker: How did you achieve these goals? What types of editing techniques, or processes, or feedback screenings allowed this work to occur?

Bouchard: Chloé was looking for a different editing experience. She wanted to get her hands dirty to explore and experiment with the material. So, she would assemble certain scenes, and then we would add them to my scenes to rework the sequences together. I always wanted to challenge Chloé and try to show her the scenes in a different [light].

When the movie was almost completed, we also had the chance to do a focus group with about 50 people. The feedback showed us areas that needed work, and we had to investigate why people would react a certain way towards a character or why their emotional engagement would decrease in certain scenes. Chloé really surprised me at this point, and she wasn’t afraid of taking out a whole scene and revisiting another important one. The screening didn’t change the movie she wanted to make, but it really had an impact on our reflections.

Filmmaker: As an editor, how did you come up in the business, and what influences have affected your work?

Bouchard: I have always been passionate about movies. I was studying in a science program, but then a course on cinema made me want to follow my heart, and I transferred to film studies. I started in duplication, then worked as an assistant and worked my way to being an editor. I was really passionate about it, and I would go to masterclasses and read the books my mentors suggested. Those people, who are my colleagues now, were so generous and welcoming. They made me feel like I was an editor even when I really wasn’t yet. They made me understand what it meant to be an editor, and it really shaped how I work today. I try to pass that forward whenever I can.

Filmmaker: What editing system did you use, and why?

Bouchard: I worked on Avid. It’s the first editing software I learned, so it’s the one I am the most comfortable with. When I work with younger editors who learned on Final Cut Pro or Premiere, I have to defend my choice. They don’t like it as much as me… Hahaha.

Filmmaker: What was the most difficult scene to cut and why? And how did you do it?

Bouchard: Generally, the most difficult scenes to edit were the scenes where all the characters were there at once. For example, in the co-ownership meeting scene, there were many relationships to build between the characters, many different points of view and movements. We also had to establish the greenhouse because it would return later in the movie.

How did we do this? We had to edit it over and over again until we got it right. There’s no recipe… you have to give it the love it needs!

Filmmaker: Finally, now that the process is over, what new meanings has the film taken on for you? What did you discover in the footage that you might not have seen initially, and how does your final understanding of the film differ from the understanding that you began with?

Bouchard: As an editor, I always want to bring the best out of the material that is handed to me. In this case, I could see that everyone brought their A-game to the project. This particular movie really had an aura. There was some kind of magic unfolding. Those kinds of projects are rare, and it’s hard to explain the magic.

One thing I realized was that a lot of the stuff that concerned me while watching the dailies wasn’t an issue in the end. Chloé really has a distinct vision, and the more we would edit the film, the more I could appreciate her intentions. Her particular aesthetic and feminist point of view would come into focus, and I could help her push it even further.

Catherine Léger’s screenplay was so well crafted. Watching the movie over and over, I was amazed by how rich her writing was from a psychological standpoint.

Some scenes really echoed some moments and situations in my life. The characters are not black and white. They live in a gray zone full of nuance. The movie talks about the difficulties of parenthood, of preserving your love life, the use of anti-depressants. The editing process forced us to reflect on our own lives with the purpose of better understanding the story and our characters. It truly was a great human experience, and that’s what I love about this job.

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