Xavier Dolan wanted to set the record straight. He wasn’t “not happy” that his third film, Laurence Anyways was going to Cannes (as per the lede, or opening line, of my article from April, 2012); rather, he was “disappointed” to not be in official competition, as so many had predicted, for the third time in a row.
Following our interview, I re-read last year’s piece, in which Dolan’s qualifying of his feelings seemed to have been made quite clear. (“The disappointment was momentary and is replaced by the excitement of returning to a place that has come to feel like family,” I quoted him saying.) But he spent a good five minutes clarifying his position.
“When you’re 23, you don’t have 45 years of experience in terms of dynamics with important people,” the Montreal writer-director-actor said, Tuesday morning – the day of the North-American premiere of his new film Tom à la ferme at the Toronto International Film Festival, “and you don’t necessarily know how to deal with all the weight and stress. I literally became crazy that spring, waiting (for the Cannes announcement)…
“For sure I was disappointed; but disappointed in a very normal, sincere way. What I literally expressed was my sadness – not at being in (in the parallel section) Un certain regard, because I was grateful to be going to Cannes. I was just disappointed not to be in official competition. But that would have never led me to sneer at Cannes for a movie, ever. Because I’m not a stupid person. Just, the movie was not ready.”
The movie in question is Tom à la ferme, and this all started because I asked Dolan if he had deliberately chosen Venice over Cannes for its world premiere. Absolutely not, he explained. It was all a question of timing. The film was delayed because he had accepted a role in Podz’s forthcoming movie Miraculum.
Whatever the reason, the move paid off. The film screened in official competition, and won Venice’s Critic’s Prize. That’s welcome affirmation for Dolan’s change of direction. Tom à la ferme is a gripping psychological thriller, its claustrophobic tone and plot-driven suspense standing in contrast to the garish melodramas the director has become known for.
“What I really admire in filmmakers is versatility,” he said. “Is polyvalence a word? It’s just that versatile is such a sexual word for me, for some reason. I admire the capacity to master whatever approach seems compatible with a script’s desires and needs, what it calls for… With Tom at the Farm, I tried to purge my stylistic reflexes and ticks, in order to focus on tension.”
Based on the play by Michel Marc Bouchard, the film is propulsed by an oppressive sense of danger. Dolan plays Tom, who goes to his lover’s funeral in the country. Upon arrival, Tom is shocked to find that the man’s mother (Lise Roy) has no idea who he is, and apparently doesn’t even know her son was gay.
Her other son (Pierre Yves Cardinal) is all too aware, but that isn’t necessarily a good thing. Before long, Tom is pulled into a twisted game of cat and mouse, his safety and emotional wellbeing under constant threat as he is forced to play a game to which the rules are far from clear.
“I think the promise of violence, brutality and savagery (drew me to the story),” Dolan said. “And then there was the mother’s role. Mother figures are always close to home.”
Dolan’s career was launched with his 2009 directorial debut, J’ai tué ma mère. His next film is simply titled Mommy.
tdunlevy@montrealgazette.com
Twitter: tchadunlevy
