Dolan Directs: Adele – Hello (2015)

If you've been reading the past posts in this series, you'll know how happy I am to be able to report that there is tea in china cups! It may seem like this is becoming something of an obsession for me, but now that I've noticed it, I need to see tea in china cups …

Dolan Directs: Mommy (2014)

"A woman doesn't wake up one morning not loving her son." When I first saw this film on its release, I remember saying that although I liked it and was glad I'd seen it, it was very shouty and I wasn't sure I ever wanted to see it again. Well that was my instant reaction to …

Dolan Directs: Tom à la ferme / Tom at the Farm (2013)

Aujourd'hui c'est comme une partie de moi qui meurt et puis je n'arrive pas à pleurer. Maintenant ce qu'il nous reste à faire sans toi c'est te remplacer. Today a part of me has died and I can't cry. Now all I can do without you is replace you.   This is Xavier Dolan's fourth feature, and …

Dolan Directs: Indochine – College Boy (2013)

After using a song by Indochine in his film Les amours imaginaires, Xavier Dolan turns his hand to directing a video specifically for one of their songs - College Boy. It caused something of a stir, because it was deemed to be too violent to be shown to anyone under the age of 18, and …

Dolan Directs: Laurence Anyways (2012)

"I'm stealing someone's life." "Whose life?" "The life of the woman I was born to be." Laurence Anyways charts a ten-year period in the life of Laurence, a high school teacher, as he finally reaches a point where he admits to himself and the love of his life that he is actually a woman and wants to …

Dolan Directs: Les amours imaginaires / Heartbeats (2010)

Il n'y a de vrai au monde que de déraisonner d'amour The only truth is love beyond reason This is one of those times when the English title Heartbeats, not being a direct translation of the original French title Les amours imaginaires, does the film a disservice; the French title is a much better fit …

Dolan Directs: J’ai tué ma mère / I Killed my Mother (2009)

"What would you do if I died today?" "I'd die tomorrow." Research before re-watching J'ai tué ma mère brings up the staggering information that Dolan was 16 when he wrote the screenplay and 19 when he directed it. He also acknowledges that the story is partly autobiographical, and it fills me with admiration that someone so young …

Dolan Directs: Introduction

I wish I could explain why I am so enamoured of the films of Canadian director Xavier Dolan. His films are challenging, sometimes shouty, aggressively populated. The characters are outsiders yet ordinary, antagonistic to those closest to them, often unhappy or troubled. But I find his films striking, mesmerising and above all, honest in a …