Francis (a gay man) is friends with Marie (a straight woman). When they meet Nicolas, a young Adonis, they both fall for him and a competition ensues for his affections. We are clear where Francis and Marie stand in this threesome, but what Nicolas is up to remains a mystery. There are hints that he may be gay, like the time he comments to a young man at a party, "Did it hurt too much when you fell from heaven?" Nicolas had to be aware of the intensity of the feelings he was arousing in his friends, but his desire was apparently to keep them on the hook to feed his own ego. We get evidence of the game he was playing when the jealousy between Francis and Marie over Nicolas erupted into a physical fight and he only stood back and smirked.
As this movie went along I kept thinking, "There isn't much here." But when it was over I came to feel the the whole was greater than the sum of its parts. The intensity and pain of unrequited young love is captured, sometimes with a disappointed look, sometimes with a scream of pain, sometimes with graphic detail as when Francis puts one of Nicolas' shirts over his head and masturbates. Finally both Francis and Marie force the issue. In one of the most painful scenes Francis confesses to Nicolas that he wants to kiss him, only to be met with the response, "How could you ever think I was gay?" Well, Nicolas was not making it all that clear that he wasn't. Marie's confession of love was also rebuffed. A humorous and insightful final scene has you thinking that the whole scenario is about to start all over again.
It's the style of the film that will engage you or put you off. There are a lot of slow motion shots that seem to have little relevance to the story, like a long take of Francis walking down the street. In conjunction with dramatic use of color and some heavy-hitting music, the pacing of the slow motion shots helps create a dreamlike mood, and that is the appropriate mood for the story, since the three main characters are in a dreamlike state--how easy it is to project our needs and fantasies onto a likely candidate and ignore the taking of any hard data. I could have done with fewer slow motion shots of cigarette smoking. I suppose those were inserted in homage to "Breathless," but they don't play too well fifty years on. There are a number of other retro touches in evidence, from Marie's dresses to Francis' pompadour.
When I found out that the guy who played Francis (Xavier Dolan) was the writer and director and was only 21 years old at the time I could only think, "The kid's got style." This movie has a single theme that is handled well. I look forward to seeing films where Dolan applies his talents to more complex material.
As this movie went along I kept thinking, "There isn't much here." But when it was over I came to feel the the whole was greater than the sum of its parts. The intensity and pain of unrequited young love is captured, sometimes with a disappointed look, sometimes with a scream of pain, sometimes with graphic detail as when Francis puts one of Nicolas' shirts over his head and masturbates. Finally both Francis and Marie force the issue. In one of the most painful scenes Francis confesses to Nicolas that he wants to kiss him, only to be met with the response, "How could you ever think I was gay?" Well, Nicolas was not making it all that clear that he wasn't. Marie's confession of love was also rebuffed. A humorous and insightful final scene has you thinking that the whole scenario is about to start all over again.
It's the style of the film that will engage you or put you off. There are a lot of slow motion shots that seem to have little relevance to the story, like a long take of Francis walking down the street. In conjunction with dramatic use of color and some heavy-hitting music, the pacing of the slow motion shots helps create a dreamlike mood, and that is the appropriate mood for the story, since the three main characters are in a dreamlike state--how easy it is to project our needs and fantasies onto a likely candidate and ignore the taking of any hard data. I could have done with fewer slow motion shots of cigarette smoking. I suppose those were inserted in homage to "Breathless," but they don't play too well fifty years on. There are a number of other retro touches in evidence, from Marie's dresses to Francis' pompadour.
When I found out that the guy who played Francis (Xavier Dolan) was the writer and director and was only 21 years old at the time I could only think, "The kid's got style." This movie has a single theme that is handled well. I look forward to seeing films where Dolan applies his talents to more complex material.