Fortunately. the film title “I Killed My Mother” (2009, “J’ai
tue ma mere”) is a metaphor, and nothing more. The film is a debut by the
20-year old director (then) French Canadian director Xavier Dolan, and the film
is an 95-minute autobiographical sketch of his stormy relationship with his
single mom (Anne Dorval) as an emerging
and rather assertive gay teenager, and his mother’s gradual realization of what
that would mean. At one point late in
the film she says, “You won’t have any children”. Xavier (naming his doppleganger Hubert) says
that gays do have children or often wind up raising them (OPC – other people’s
children), but it’s a big deal if he is an only child.
The father (Pierre Chagnon) had split from the family years
ago because he couldn’t measure up to fatherhood. (Okay, the Family Research Council is going
to have fun with this.) Hubert stirs
things up by turning in an essay in language class with the film title, and
people becoming concerned that metaphor and thought experiment could become
reality. In the mean time, Hubert gets
closer to the lanky boyfriend Antonin (Francois Amaud).
Mom and dad meet and decide to put Hubert into a boarding
school in the country. Hubert resists,
but goes and finds another boyfriend Eric (Niels Schneider). At this point, it’s important to note that
all three gay teens are presented as attractive, smart, reasonably clean cut,
and even charismatic. Bur Hubert gets
beat up (a scene that gets played down), and runs away. When the headmaster calls the mom, she turns
about-face and scolds him over the phone and begins to realize she must be
there for her son.
Hubert has left a note saying that he will be “in his
kingdom”, which sounds ominous of course.
The ending of the film, in reduced aspect ratio, shows some
nature-centered images, but we are left with some reassurances that even here, “heaven”
is just a metaphor, too.
Dolan sprinkles his film with black and white shots of
himself talking to provide some narration. Technically, the photography seems a
bit diffuse, and could use a little more light, definition and brighter color in
some indoor scenes – with one great exception, the painting party scene, where
Hubert and Antonin pretend to be “Pollock” (the biography of that painter was a
major film from Sony in 2000, starring Ed Harris). The pacing of the script
(which he says he wrote at 16), and transitions points could use some
work. Possibly the help of an
experienced screenwriter could help pull this film off more effectively.
The film can be viewed on Netflix (or DVD rented),
distributor was Kino.
Wikipedia attribution link for language map of Quebec; blue
is French. (Author Piotron; Creative Commons Share Alike 3.0 license) The French in Canada is much
harder (and probably more idiomatic) for my ear to follow than it is in films from France. In this film, the characters talk explosively fast; I've gotten spoiled by German and Dutch (and Flemish) where the pronunciation is so slow, deliberate and clear.
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