Montreal’s Jessica Pare on how ‘Mad Men’ featured Quebec; Megan’s future

By Cassandra Szklarski, The Canadian Press

TORONTO – “Mad Men” is famously fastidious in its attention to detail, but for some Canadians there’s been one glaring misstep over the years — the way it portrays Quebec character Megan Calvet Draper.

As the series comes to a close, Montreal actress Jessica Pare says she’s been vaguely aware of complaints that the Calvets don’t seem typically Quebecois.

Online nitpickers have suggested Megan’s first and last name aren’t very French-Canadian, and took issue with the French spoken by Brit actress Julia Ormond, who plays Megan’s mother Marie, and Belgian-born actor Ronald Guttman, as Megan’s father Emile.

Pare says Ormond worked with a coach on her French accent.

“(Creator) Matt (Weiner) is making an American TV show and it goes really fast and we all do the best we can,” Pare says in a recent phone interview from Palm Springs, Calif.

“I mean, as for my accent, I grew up there and I spoke both French and English.”

Most recently, the Calvets took centre stage in the April 12 episode, when Marie and Megan’s sister Marie-France — played by Canadian actress Kim Bubbs — arrive to help Megan move out of the New York pad she shared with philandering ad man Don Draper.

That episode included substantial exchanges in French between the bickering women, which so far haven’t elicited the same outcry as previous episodes.

Pare says she enjoyed getting to flip between English and French for the show, noting “it’s not something that you get to do very often” on a U.S. series.

And while she avoids reading online critics, she understands why Canadians especially would seize on the Calvet storyline.

“I feel like when it’s really close to home … we want to see it portrayed the way that we perceive it. But it’s also TV —(there’s) a little creative expression,” she says.

Pare was coy in addressing whether we’ve seen the last of her big-haired bilingual character, but says she’s immensely proud of the work she’s been able to do on the AMC period drama.

Last we saw, Megan finalized a bitter divorce with Don and was about to begin a new chapter with a million-dollar settlement.

“Her time with Don has really taken a lot out of her, taken a lot of her joy, and a lot of her optimism,” Pare says of Megan, who looked the other way as Don wandered.

“That obviously can embitter a person. But I believe in Megan. She’s an optimist, so she’ll be fine. Especially with a million dollars.”

Pare, who welcomed a baby boy five weeks ago, says she’s watching the final episodes eager to learn how things turn out, noting she’s “as much, or more, of a fan as anyone else.”

Although she says the cast will likely reunite to celebrate the end of the series, she’ll miss going to set everyday.

“The work was so fulfilling,” she says. “That doesn’t happen everywhere.”

“Mad Men” airs Sundays on AMC.

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