3 films by Xavier Dolan to see or see again absolutely | VL Media

On the occasion of Xavier Dolan’s new series soon to be broadcast on Canal +, here is a top 3 of his best films

Xavier Dolan’s dark and intense series, The night laurier Gaudreault woke upis already available on the Canadian streaming platform Club illico. It will be broadcast on Canal + in early 2023, this gives us the opportunity to come back to the most stunning films by the Canadian director. Poignant, rich and intimate, Xavier Dolan’s cinema explores themes that have universal significance.

I Killed My Mother (2009)

This film, like any first film, reveals certain leitmotifs of the director: filiation, the laws of attraction, psychological revolt. We witness the daily life of Hubert who can no longer bear his mother. He is only 17 years old and despite his artistic and emotional discoveries, his mother poisons his existence. What seems a priori banal when you see his mother quickly becomes unbearable, because the director (also the main actor) manages to point out everything that bothers him. Sharing one’s intimacy with Hubert: this is the film’s coup de force, without ever being too Manichean with its characters that we love despite everything. This film also evokes the question of nostalgia, of the love we have for our mother as a child, which sometimes takes a new turn in adolescence. Moments of poetry, literary references, a fine portrait of complex characters, without forgetting a love scene that mixes with artistic creation: a wonderful film, touching, intelligent, which gives an overview of all the narrative and thematic power of the director. Xavier Dolan wrote the screenplay when he was only 16, which he directed only three years later. A feat.

Imaginary Loves (2010)

The film depicts the love of a boy (Xavier Dolan) and a girl (Monia Chokri) for an ephebe looking like a Greek god, played by Niels Schneider. In this film, we notice an even more powerful visual narration. There are slow motions, classical and modern music, close-ups. Processes already used in his previous film, but this time it’s even better. The colors are even more accentuated (retro pop) just like the exacerbated jealousy of the two lovers fighting to conquer the heart of Nicolas (Niels Schneider). It is therefore the theme of attraction, of the game of seduction that is explored, through a crazy aesthetic punctuated by almost surreal scenes (marshmallow scene). The music bang bang by Dalida suspends the spectator to the slightest actions and gestures of the characters with whom, once again, we find ourselves in perfect intimacy. Once again, the actors embody their roles with great accuracy.

My Life with John F Donovan (2019)

Xavier Dolan’s only Hollywood film. Probably the one that required the most resources and was the most complicated for the director to achieve. A point of honor for the young actor Jacob Tremblay who plays incredibly well. This is the story that features a mother and her son, the latter has an epistolary relationship with a star of series B, John F Donovan. Only nobody believes it, the problem of love between a mother (Natalie Portman) and a son (Jacob Tremblay) is at the heart of the story. John F Donovan (Kit Harrington) shares his troubles with the young boy: the difficulty of his success, his trust in others and his secrets. The theatrical release was complicated, in particular because it was followed two months later by the release of Mathias and Maxime (2019). This film is extremely touching, strong and autobiographical. Xavier Dolan will say that he was an artistic frustration, having to cut more than two hours from the film. However it is a real emotional boost.

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