VIU’s Media Studies Department hosted a screening of independent Canadian film Fortescue on February 5, 2025. Twenty or so audience members braved the snow to join writer, director, and producer Rebeccah Love and lead actors Tyson Coady and Chelsea Preston at the Malaspina Theatre for the screening and Q&A emceed by me.

Rebeccah Love is a 34-year-old disabled independent filmmaker. She lives with three chronic health conditions: bipolar I, psoriatic arthritis, and migraine. Her experiences with these conditions inform her writing—most of Love’s recent films including A Woman’s Block, Parlour Palm, and Eve Parade look at bipolar I, mania, psychosis, and suicidal depression.

Fortescue invites the viewer to ponder: “Who will be there for us in times of need?”

The film, released in October of last year, tells the story of playwright Lea (Kelsey Falconer) and Gabby (Chelsea Preston) in their endeavour to put on a lakeside play. The opening scenes are full of light, love, and colour. The friendship between Lea and Gabby is joyous and true as they spend time together swimming, cooking, and doing all things cabin.

When Lea’s boyfriend Kevin (Tyson Coady) arrives, dynamics quickly shift and colours fade. It becomes apparent that Kevin’s character is the stereotypical misogynistic white guy when he tackles Gabby into the lake against her will, then expresses his love for French impressionist artist Edgar Degas over a candle-lit dinner.

“He’s a genius,” Kevin gushes, and flips through a book of paintings depicting young ballerinas. “Truly pure. Virtuous, untouched, perfection,” he says of the dancers.

“You know they were all young prostitutes, right?” Gabby says.

Kevin’s face drops while Gabby explains the history of the backrooms of Paris opera houses and how they were built to be gentlemen’s clubs.

Further into the film, it is revealed that Holly Banks, artistic director of Stratford Festival, lives on Lake Fortescue. Lea hopes Holly will attend the play, but when Holly tells Lea she can’t make it on the day it was planned, Lea pushes the play ahead. That evening, Lea is shown taking the last pill from her prescription bottle.

The following day Lea frantically prepares for the show. She’s sweeping the same spot of concrete and murmuring to herself in a way that could be initially written off as excitement. That evening, the group plus visiting friend Noah gathers for evening drinks. In this scene, Noah prompts Lea to talk about her college days and sexual history. She’s slept with men before Kevin.

Kevin is visibly upset and pokes at Lea to share, but Lea is clearly unwell. She’s drunk and having trouble keeping her eyes open. Once again, she mumbles frantically:

“It was a wild time,” Lea says of her college days.

“Why’d you leave?” Kevin asks.

“You got sick,” Noah inputs.

“I don’t want to talk about this,” Lea says. “I’m a little embarrassed.”

“There is nothing embarrassing about manic depression,” Noah says.

“Manic depression,” Kevin says. “Are you bi–”

“Bipolar?” Lea says, and laughs. “Yep!”

She’s reluctant to divulge more. “We’ll talk about it tomorrow,” Lea says.

After Kevin brings her to the couch to lie down, Lea murmurs that she ran out of her medication. The warning falls on deaf ears.

To the untrained eye, this scene might depict the messy drunk girl trope. However, given the context of Lea missing her dose, it works to mark the beginning of Lea’s decline into psychosis.

The next day is show time. Tensions are high as Lea’s mental health worsens. There’s conflict between Gabby and Lea in terms of art and privilege, Gabby and Kevin in terms of taking care of Lea, and Kevin and Lea because Kevin just can’t reconcile with the fact that Lea was “easy.”

But the show must go on.

A rendition of Rapunzel, Lea’s play within the film features Gabby as the titular character and Kevin as a doctor named Ezra. Rapunzel is ill and locked in her tower due to a deadly plague, which Love confirmed during the Q&A was inspired by COVID-19. Dr. Ezra comes and visits Rapunzel to share a bouquet of daisies and a poem by his late father.

But Kevin has a saviour complex. He believes his presence can make it all better. Rapunzel dies. Dr. Ezra does too, but not before he climbs on top of Rapunzel and kisses her for an unplanned amount of time.

Holly Banks is unimpressed. She leaves without a word. Lea is devastated. Once the crowd is gone, she is quite unwell.

“I’m building a little manger,” she tells Gabby. Lea wears a cloth over her head.

“Lea,” Gabby says.

“My name isn’t Lea. It’s Mary, the virgin Mary,” Lea says. “This is what Kevin wants. He wants an untouched woman.” She’s whispering, yelling, giggling, then furrowing her brows.

Gabby does her best to calm Lea, to treat her with kindness and gentleness, but Kevin enters the scene and escalates the situation. This was the hardest part to watch. Kevin’s ignorance towards Lea’s diagnosis manifests as anger and violence. He slaps Lea. The audience members at VIU audibly gasped.

“You guys are fucked up, fucked up women,” he says before disappearing.

The closing of the film depicts Lea’s recovery. Gabby refills Lea’s prescription, and light and colours slowly return. The women don bright, flowy clothing—the kind they wore before Kevin arrived. Gabby takes care of Lea in the way she needs to be taken care of, and their friendship glows on the shores of Lake Fortescue.

~

“The whole narrative of Fortescue is meant to show that your girl friend can save you,” Love said during the Q&A. “Fortescue in French means fort, strong, escue, shield. As kids we’re told your man is going to be your strong shield. But… anyone can be your strong shield. Your neighbor, family member, or best friend can be your strong shield.”

After the event, I asked audience members Jackson Busch and Madison for their thoughts. Busch is a VIU Anthropology program alumnus and Madison is a fourth-year English major who lives with bipolar.

The screening was timely for Madison. “My two disabled platonic best friends saved me from a toxic relationship like a week and a half earlier.”

“It was very unsanitized,” Busch added. “It captured not just the experience of being somebody with disabilities, but also being part of that community. About being friends with and loving people who have disabilities, especially when you also have disabilities or other aligning marginalizations.”

Busch pointed to negative portrayals of mental health conditions in films like Split and Glass which perpetuate the idea that people with mental illnesses are dangerous. “Where Fortescue says, ‘no, this is just someone who’s struggling, and yes, it’s uncomfortable, but not inherently dangerous,’ it’s not diminishing the worthiness of the character or painting them as a bad person, it’s just the reality.”

“I think that the world needs more representations of mental illness that are like that,” Madison said.

Fortescue’s Rapunzel says what disability advocates and feminists have been yelling for years: society doesn’t like stories about sick women. But this film demands the audience to sit down and listen to the story of one for 90 minutes.

At times, the message feels blatant. Love leaves no room for confusion about what this film is about. On first watch, I was unsure how to feel about this. I like a story I can pick apart and ponder and speculate. But an ambiguous meaning is not one of this film’s goals. The messaging is clear so that learning, understanding, empathy, and ultimately change can take place.

I’m disabled myself. I have a family member with schizophreniform disorder. I’m a woman who has encountered many Kevins in my time. Fortescue resonated with me because of this.

I’d recommend this film for anyone interested in increasing their learning about bipolar disorder or psychosis, anyone who has faced or is guilty of misogyny, and aspiring filmmakers looking for a wonderful example of an independent Canadian film.

Fortescue is on tour across Canada. Follow @fortescuefilm for updates on Instagram. Love says the film will land on streaming platforms after fall 2025.