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Joe O'Connor: The French sizzle and anglos fizzle on Battle of the Blades

Source: National Post
Date: October 28, 2009
Author: Joe O'Connor
It is The Look: a riveting look between two lovers that could melt icebergs and move mountains. It is enchanting, and full of lust. And it is entirely an act.

It may well be an innate French-Canadian act that Stephane Richer, a French-Canadian hockey player, and Marie-France Dubreuil -- his French-Canadian skating partner -- have successfully employed on CBC network television to put themselves among the final four pairings on Battle of the Blades.

"Maybe it is a little bit with the Latin roots, and also with the French," says Ms. Dubreuil, explaining the couple's ability to simulate passion in front of a panel of judges, and a live audience, when both she and Mr. Richer are married to other people. "I mean, the European French are known to be so dramatic, so over the top with their emotions.

"And I lived in France for six years, so I know what I am talking about. We have a little bit of that in us. Just look at the Quebec singers, like Celine Dion and others. It is all about passion."

Mr. Richer is a two-time Stanley Cup winner with puppy dog eyes and the heart of a poet. He likes country music, for its tales of heartbreak and woe. He also cries in movies, and is not afraid to say so.

"Some guys, they say they never cry, but I like everything about sadness," Mr. Richer says. "[The French] have the passion."

And the English, it appears, do not. At least not when it comes to being a former NHL player who is trying his luck at figure skating on a reality show. Eight couples were in the running when Battle of the Blades premiered in September. The female half of each pair was an accomplished skater. Ms. Dubreuil, for example, is a two-time world champion silver medalist in ice dancing. The men, meanwhile, were retired NHL players.

Four couples have been eliminated so far, and the male component in each failed partnership -- Glenn Anderson, Bob Probert, Ken Daneyko and Ron Duguay -- was an English Canadian.

Mr. Richer, however, remains. As does Claude Lemieux, another Quebecer, who has been exchanging melting looks with his Ontario-born partner, Shae-Lynn Bourne.

(The surviving anglophone men are Craig Simpson, with Jamie Sale, and Tie Domi with Christine Hough-Sweeney.)

Is it just a coincidence that two of the four men left standing are French, when four anglophones have already fallen? Or could it be something more? Something cultural? And could passion, real or faked, be rooted in a province and an innate part of every red-blooded hockey player who hails from Quebec and later attempts to become a figure skater?

Sandra Bezec is one of the show's judges and a legend in the world of figure skating choreography. Her list of past clients includes four-time world champion Kurt Browning. Ms. Bezec is not convinced that a sample consisting of eight former hockey players could lead to some greater truths about French and English culture.

"There are lots of anglo guys who wear their hearts on their sleeves, and Kurt Browning is one of them," she says. "Kurt is a good Alberta boy. You always know what he is thinking and feeling. But, having said that, there is something to French romanticism, isn't there? In art, in literature, it is part of their culture. It is in their blood."

Mr. Lemieux might not get all weepy when watching movies, like Mr. Richer does, but he loves to sing. He sang to his bride on their wedding day and he used to sing with his sister, Carole, a teen pop sensation in Quebec, back when they were kids.

"I grew up in a musical environment," he says. "I love to sing. I sang with my sister, and whenever there is a microphone at a party I jump up and sing. But I think it helps in this competition to be with the right partner. And we both have partners who make us look good."

Mr. Richer is already getting nervous about his next performance on Sunday night. The music he and Ms. Dubreuil will skate to demands a jazzier, jumpier, more playful routine than their previous efforts, the ones featuring the lustful looks that could melt an iceberg.

Mr. Richer is a big man, and says his body is not built for fancy footwork. But then, he is also from Quebec. And he does have puppy dog eyes and he will cry in movies and in figure skating, the judges do award marks for artistic impression.

"I can't hide anything," Mr. Richer says, tugging on his face. "Even my wife, she can't believe how sensual I can be."

Will French sensuality carry the day? Could The Look, and the romantic culture that lies behind it, be enough to propel Mr. Richer and the raven-haired Ms. Dubreuil through to the end?

Ms. Bezec cannot say, although she does concede that, for a figure skater, grasping the emotional component of a performance is a monumental task. And Mr. Richer and Mr. Lemieux, from the province of Quebec, have made it look easy.

"The French are the French," says Ms. Bezec. "They are lovers."