ON SERA HEUREUX 

A film by Léa Pool, based on an original screenplay by Michel Marc Bouchard, tells the story of Saad, a young Moroccan immigrant who, with his Iranian lover Reza, attempts the perilous journey to America and eventually succeeds, but not without hardship. Upon their arrival in Montreal, Saad is called upon to save his lover from certain deportation to Iran, where death likely awaits him. Through a desperate scheme, Saad manages to seduce an official at the Canadian Department of Immigration. This impromptu romance leads him to experience the comfortable America he had idealized on the beaches of Tangier and undermines his heroic mission. "ON SERA HEUREUX" (We Will Be Happy) deals with a subject rarely explored in cinema: the immigration of LGBTQR+ refugees. Release date: November 2025

Directed by: Léa Pool - Screenplay and dialogue: Michel Marc Bouchard - Produced by: Lyse Lafontaine, François Tremblay, Nicolas Steil, Katarzyna Ozga - Production companies: Lyla Films (QC), IRIS Productions (LUX) with the financial participation of Telefilm Canada and SODEC - Distributed by: Opale/Entract

Cast: Mehdi Meskar (Saad), Aron Archer (Reza), Alexandre Landry (Laurent), Céline Bonnier (Jeanne), Sascha Ley (Gloria Price), Jérôme Varanfrain (Martin), Joël Delsaut (The Priest), Paul Ahmarani (The Lawyer), Shiva Gholamianzadeh (The Interpreter), Maxime Afshar (Ismael), Yves Soutière (The Prosecutor)

Technical Specifications

Genre: Drama - Origin: Quebec-Luxembourg co-production, 2025 - Running Time: 1 hour 42 minutes - Original Language: French, Arabic - Rating: General (not recommended for young children) - Filming: 35 days between July 23 and September 21, 2024 in Morocco, Quebec, and Luxembourg - Theatrical Premiere: November 4, 2025 (Cinemania) - Release Date: November 7, 2025 on 27 screens in Quebec

Technical Team - Assistant Director: Marc Larose - Hair: Hanna Yee - Visual Design: Elise de Blois - Costume Design: Marjolayne Desrosiers - Production Management: Alexandre Frigon, Paul Simon - Production Management: Pierre Thériault - Casting: Daniel Poisson - Makeup: Emilie Franco - Film Editing: Michel Arcand - Music: Kyan Bayani - Photography: Yves Bélanger - Sound: Loic Collignon, Nicolas Leroy, Carlo Thoss

“While the screenplay is structured like an administrative thriller, the film breathes through its melodramatic framework. The escape is constantly fueled by love: a church as refuge, support networks, fingerprint burns, a name change, a reinvented past—all against the backdrop of an administrative subhumanity. A community of exiles, meticulously researched by the art direction, counterbalances the constant inhumanity experienced by these migrants seeking asylum. Visually, the work is very powerful (cinematography by the talented Yves Bélanger). There is an alternation between the polished and the raw animality of the bodies: precise sets, delicately filmed love scenes, and the sinister framing of camps like enclosures. A long tracking shot emphasizes the dehumanization of these bodies. The fiction, tragic and highly scripted, remains visceral: bodies that love each other, protect each other, and bargain for their safety. Here, love both saves and kills.”

The cast (Mehdi Meskar, Alexandre Landry, Céline Bonnier) is solid, but special mention must go to Aron Archer (Reza), a Montreal-trained actor of Iranian origin, in his very first film role. Archer portrays fear without hysteria, love without pathos. A lucid condemned man, a tragic hero, he ultimately chooses love. A high-risk role—victim or sacrificial angel—which he imbues with restraint and gravity. Archer is stunning in this first role, which he makes utterly believable. 4 STARS Sarah-Louise Pelletier-Morin, LE DEVOIR, November 6, 2025

"Brilliantly constructed, like a thriller, *We Will Be Happy* also highlights the bureaucratic cruelty of the immigration system. It's hard not to be moved by the heartbreaking scene where Reza must prove his homosexuality before an implacably cold administrative tribunal. True to her characteristic sensitivity, Léa Pool (*The Passion of Augustine*) tells this story with tenderness and humanity. Discovered a few years ago in the series *The Monster*, Mehdi Meskar delivers a poignant performance as the film's unlikely hero. Aron Archer and Alexandre Landry are also convincing in complex and nuanced roles." “JOURNAL DE MONTRÉAL, Maxime Demers, Thursday, November 6, 2025

“At a time when immigrants are often stigmatized and blamed for all of society’s ills, Léa Pool’s latest feature film arrives at just the right moment to set the record straight. *On sera heureux* is a profoundly human film, a work that is both intense and moving.” 8.5 OUT OF 10, LE SOLEIL, Thomas Thivierge, November 7, 2025

“Will we be happy in the end? Yes and no. The film remains true to itself and doesn’t offer us an ending worthy of a Hollywood romance. On the contrary, just when we seem to be getting out of this mess, another problem arises. This feature film doesn’t sugarcoat its message to soften the cruelty of the world. It presents difficult truths that are relevant today. It prompts reflection, encourages discussion with those around us, and raises our awareness of others. We particularly remember that a human being is not a number and that the justice system must become more humane to fulfill its true mission: to help.” ZONE CAMPUS, Léonie Meunier, November 11, 2025

“A romantic drama perfectly in keeping with the work of Michel Marc Bouchard, Léa Pool’s 20th feature film skillfully alternates between beauty and horror, desire and danger, hope and despair… The filmmaker contrasts the enchanting interludes set in Laurent’s luxurious world with the misery of an improvised refuge, and with the pervasive, dehumanized gloom of the corridors of power. In this respect, the cinematography of Yves Bélanger, a close collaborator of the late Jean-Marc Vallée, brilliantly illustrates the different worlds that unfold in *On sera heureux*.”

By opting for a non-linear structure, the screenwriter evokes the state of mind of the two young immigrants, haunted by traumatic memories that resurface even in their happiest moments. Even when the future seems bright, the screenwriter reminds us that nothing is perfect in their adopted country.

Thus, in one of the film's most beautiful scenes, where Saad and Reza savor their happiness, the melancholic lament of "L'Amérique pleure" by Les Cowboys Fringants resonates. Jean-François Pauzé's bitter lyrics take on a deeper meaning than ever.

Meticulously researched, "On sera heureux" offers a glimpse into the harsh reality faced by undocumented immigrants without being heavy-handed, preachy, or didactic. Following the course of a moving love story, where the enigmatic Saad possesses the makings of a tragic hero, Michel Marc Bouchard and Léa Pool's offering concludes on a poignant yet hopeful note. — Manon Dumais, LA PRESSE, November 7, 2025