vitrerie joyal is at the center of a new series from Martin Matte and Guillaume Lonergan, built from the life of the comedian’s father and set in the 1990s. The project places family conflict, workplace change, and uncomfortable social attitudes in the foreground as it moves toward its release on Prime Video on Friday, May 1, in Eastern Time. The story is framed as a comedy-drama, but it leans into the emotional weight of a period that shaped the characters and the people around them.
A family story rooted in the 1990s
In vitrerie joyal, Martin Matte plays André Joyal, a vitreous business owner who struggles with change while his son Philippe, played by Pier-Luc Funk, looks toward humor as a future. The series also follows Vincent, played by Pierre-Yves Roy-Desmarais, and Diane, played by Marilyse Bourke, as the family and the business absorb the pressures of the time.
The central setting is a workplace in Laval that reflects the era’s look and attitudes, including the spread of computers into business life. The story uses that backdrop to show a father who resists change, a mother who wants to return to work, and a workplace culture where remarks that would not pass today were often left unchallenged.
What Martin Matte is trying to preserve
Martin Matte has said he wanted to keep the portrait as faithful as possible to the 1990s, even when that meant showing racist, misogynist, or homophobic remarks that could be heard at the time. In his view, the point is not to soften the period but to show where the conversation began and how fragile progress can be.
That intent is visible in the material around vitrerie joyal: the series includes a tense moment in which André Joyal reacts sharply to the idea of two men adopting children, and the writing does not avoid the discomfort that follows. The project also reaches into personal memory, including an accident that leaves Vincent with a traumatic brain injury, echoing a real event in Martin Matte’s family history.
Reaction around the series and its tone
Martin Matte said he wanted to show “d’où on vient, où on est rendus” and stressed that what is shown on screen reflects how recently these attitudes still existed. He also said the series is meant to show how change can be fragile when viewed against wider social shifts.
Guillaume Lonergan, who directs the series, joined Martin Matte in shaping the project’s tone, and the cast includes Théodore Pellerin, Sami Landri, and Gilles Brassard. The creative team uses humor and drama together, but the material stays anchored in the emotional conflict of a son confronting his father’s worldview.
Why this story matters now
vitrerie joyal arrives as a period piece, but its subject matter lands in the present because it asks viewers to remember how recently many of these attitudes were still part of daily life. The series also fits into a broader pattern of Quebec productions using personal history to examine identity, work, and family power.
For now, the key date is Friday, May 1, at which point the six episodes are set to be available. Until then, vitrerie joyal remains a closely watched project because it mixes memory, social critique, and a very specific family story into one sharp return to the 1990s.
