30 avril 2012

TLMEP Interview with Xavier Dolan

Written by Sylvie Lupien. Merci mille fois, Sylvie!

Dolan enters the set with the song "Tout le monde aime Xavier Dolan". Dolan is here to talk about his film "Laurence Anyways" who was nominated at the Cannes Film Festival but not in line for the prestigeous Palme d'or award; it is being screened outside of the competition (hors compétition). He wants to set the record straight because in the press he was perceived as being childish and spoiled for reacting negatively for not being in competition.

Everyone thinks that this young man is brilliant, articulate and should appreciate his luck. Well, that is where Xavier Dolan gets interesting, I think. He further explains that the press for the last year, has written that his movie should and would be nominated and then, last week, he, we, find out that it isn't.

"Yeah I was disappointed," he says. But not only that, its has been eleven years since the last nomination for "Les Invasions Barbares" (The Barbarian Invasions) by Denys Archand. No one will convince me, Dolan says, that there hasn't been a good movie, here in Quebec, over the last eleven years. We have the talent, we have the knowledge, we are capable, we are proud; therefore we should dream of the ultimate dream and push for it. We should not be quiet and accept other peoples' conclusions on our movies or anything else for that matter. Culture is what makes us human and he believes that in every bone in his body. He is ambitious, he wants to dream bigger than life, he wants it all and believes everyone should do the same if that is what they want. He hates that in school, teachers say things such as: Tu rêves en couleur (you're dreaming in Technicolor). "We, in Qc, have the talent, the courage the ability and the obligation to dream big, to believe the Hollywood dream. We are survivers. If we want Quebec to be a country, then we can dream of being the best. Why the hell not?" he says. He is a proud trooper! "Tink big, ostie," comme dirait Elvis Gratton!

On Twitter, the reaction to his interview was immediate. It was positive, if only because people view him as being arrogant and pretentious. The way much of the Twitter population sees it is, you don't get where he is now by being silent, conservative and precocious. You need to make waves, oser, make a scene to get what you want or, you end up living your life like a québécois expression: Né pour un petit pain! Dolan does not want that and he wishes the Quebec population would arise above also.

Why is this interview important?


  • Xavier Dolan is the youngest director to have been nominated three times at the Cannes Festival
  • He has written and directed three films, J'ai tué ma mère, Les amours imaginaires, Laurence Anyways
  • The subjects of his three films have never been dealt with before, at least not the way he wrote them. He is daring with the subject he choses...very personal except for Laurence Anyways who is fictionnal and not "autobiographique"
  • He financed his first movies by doing dubbing movies into French (du doublage), such as the caracter Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter movies. He did this when he was young and still does it today. He even called Warner's Brother studio to complain that the doublage should not be done in a french from France. He thought it was a mistake since their expression are not understood by most french population.

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