Wow... what can I say...
I first saw Xavier Dolan's movie "Les Amours Imaginaires" which I rather loved. Without knowing Dolan's name, or knowing he was the guy also acting in the movie. But that film was so lyrical and full of visual poetry. And then this first movie of his: "J'ai tué ma mère"... has twice the intensity of Les Amours Imaginaires.
It is all just so heart felt, so open so totally vulnerable. And yet so confident. I envy Xavier Dolan. The man has a talent, a voice that has to be heard. And already at his age. The man is a true artist.
I have never seen such a beautiful movie about a young man, not yet of legal age, who is trying to be his own man, who is trying to find his own identity apart from his emotional incapable mother. They stopped being mother and son long ago and became more of a married couple with their petty little fights. She wanting to control her son by unconsciously manipulating him, as if he was her equal partner (i.e. her divorced husband), instead of a young boy that still needs love and guidance.
At the end it becomes clear that his lover Antonin whom Hubert declares his love to, is in a way a male version of his mother. He only says 'je t'aime' to the guy when he, just like Hubert's mother, is picking him up by his car, brings his clothes and is declaring that he feels like some servant and that Hubert does not care about what will happen to him at school etc.. Hubert subconsciously recognizes this behaviour from his mother and it is then, when he declares his love for Antonin.
And Hubert's mother finally stands up for her son, and thus is really, actively declaring her love for him when she tells the director of the boarding school what she really thinks of him, and thus giving her son actual motherly support.
Anyway... Lots more could be written about this movie. The only thing left to say: the man has a given talent. He has an amazing visual and symbolic sense and he knows his way with strong emotions. And in a way this movie reminds me of the emotional realism of Mike Leigh's movies, only probably without the improvisation Leigh permits his actors. And Xavier Dolan puts in lots of visual, lyrical, poetic aesthetics with lots of references to religion, arts and cultural history.
A beautiful coming of age movie. To be seen by every male or female, gay or straight, who tries, or tried in the past, to set him or herself free from a dominant parent in order to become an independent free acting man or woman with room left to breathe and to love back his/her parent(s).
I first saw Xavier Dolan's movie "Les Amours Imaginaires" which I rather loved. Without knowing Dolan's name, or knowing he was the guy also acting in the movie. But that film was so lyrical and full of visual poetry. And then this first movie of his: "J'ai tué ma mère"... has twice the intensity of Les Amours Imaginaires.
It is all just so heart felt, so open so totally vulnerable. And yet so confident. I envy Xavier Dolan. The man has a talent, a voice that has to be heard. And already at his age. The man is a true artist.
I have never seen such a beautiful movie about a young man, not yet of legal age, who is trying to be his own man, who is trying to find his own identity apart from his emotional incapable mother. They stopped being mother and son long ago and became more of a married couple with their petty little fights. She wanting to control her son by unconsciously manipulating him, as if he was her equal partner (i.e. her divorced husband), instead of a young boy that still needs love and guidance.
At the end it becomes clear that his lover Antonin whom Hubert declares his love to, is in a way a male version of his mother. He only says 'je t'aime' to the guy when he, just like Hubert's mother, is picking him up by his car, brings his clothes and is declaring that he feels like some servant and that Hubert does not care about what will happen to him at school etc.. Hubert subconsciously recognizes this behaviour from his mother and it is then, when he declares his love for Antonin.
And Hubert's mother finally stands up for her son, and thus is really, actively declaring her love for him when she tells the director of the boarding school what she really thinks of him, and thus giving her son actual motherly support.
Anyway... Lots more could be written about this movie. The only thing left to say: the man has a given talent. He has an amazing visual and symbolic sense and he knows his way with strong emotions. And in a way this movie reminds me of the emotional realism of Mike Leigh's movies, only probably without the improvisation Leigh permits his actors. And Xavier Dolan puts in lots of visual, lyrical, poetic aesthetics with lots of references to religion, arts and cultural history.
A beautiful coming of age movie. To be seen by every male or female, gay or straight, who tries, or tried in the past, to set him or herself free from a dominant parent in order to become an independent free acting man or woman with room left to breathe and to love back his/her parent(s).