Starring: Anne Dorval, Antoine-Olivier Pilon, Suzanne Clements
Distributor: Other
Runtime: 139 mins. Reviewed in Apr 2015
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On the day that this review is being written, Xavier Dolan, the precocious French-Canadian director, has a birthday. He turns 26. Mommy is his fifth film, making an impression, building on I Killed My Mother, following with Heartbeats, Laurence Anyway, Tom at the Farm, and now this film which won the jury prize in Cannes, 2014. He himself has appeared in the four earlier films but does not act in this one. The two female members of his cast have appeared in his other films. His main actor this time is a young Canadian, Antoine-Olivier Pilon.
The main actors are most impressive in their roles, Anne Dorval as the mother, trying to cope with her son who is ADHD, and Pilon as the teenage son, Steve. Suzanne Clements is the neighbour who helps both mother and son.
This is quite a long film, two hours and 20 minutes, and, while some of it is repetitious, it holds the attention with its dynamic characterisations, situations, interactions. At the opening, the mother, Diane, called Die, is taking her son out of an institution where he has set the kitchen on fire and caused extensive burns to one of the children. She takes him home, where he has a room, and tries to look after him, controlling his moods, urging him for his education. She herself is not well-educated and regrets this, having a fairly rough personality, quite aggressive physically and verbally in her dealings with many people, especially at institutions, and Steve inheriting some of this aggression – with racist and homophobic slurs.
Across the street is Kylie, a good woman who is having a sabbatical, she explains, from her teaching. She is at home with her husband and daughter, but has acquired a nervous impediment which makes her stammer. She makes friends with Die who asks her to mind Steve for a day – with some initial dire consequences, but Kylie is able to calm him somewhat and use her skills as a teacher to interest him in subjects which he follows through and responds so. In the meantime, Die tries to get a job as a translator of children’s books and takes on cleaning jobs as well.
Quite a lot of the film is a portrait of Die trying to cope with her son, his losing his temper, his reactions towards her, confiding in Kylie and getting some help. In the meantime, Steve is entirely unpredictable.
The film opens with some information about Canadian legislation, especially in French-Canada, where parents can take unruly children to institutions of care. This is the dilemma for Die, whether she can keep Steve at home as he grows older and more challenging or whether she should place Steve in an institution.
There is some pathos at the end with Die, after an outing to the beach with Kylie and Steve, having to make a decision and the audience sees how it affects her, Kylie moving to Toronto which is sad for Die, and Steve and his way of dealing with his mother’s decision.
Xavier Dolan is quite the director. He also writes, edits, designs costumes and writes the subtitles both in English and in French, a lot of it quite slangy given the background of the characters.
So, what will Dolan be doing in five years, 10 years, 15 years, with his life and career before him…!
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