Diane Després (Anne
Dorval), called Die, is a woman who it's tempting to roll your eyes at
when you first meet her. She's well past forty but wears unflattering
clothes meant for someone much younger, has streaked hair, and affects a
brash, devil-may-care attitude that veers dangerously close to trashy.
When she arrives to pick up her teenage son Steve (Antoine-Olivier Pilon) from
a treatment facility for troubled youth, it's hard to imaging that
he'll be better off in her care than staying at the facility. However,
Die and Steve don't have much of a choice. Steve's latest bout of
violence - setting a fire that severely burned another boy - got him
kicked out of his program. Now Die has to take on the responsibility of
keeping him from ending up in jail or a mental institution.
I
had difficulty connecting with Xavier Dolan's last film, "Laurence
Anyways," which was about the life and loves of a transgender
woman. "Mommy," on the other hand, hit me right where it hurts. I
identified so quickly and so completely with Die after only a few short
scenes, despite her all her flaws. Yes, she drinks too much, often
behaves like a teenager, and is clearly in way over her head trying to
parent Steve, but fundamentally she's a good person who wants to help
her son. Anne Dorval is wonderfully raw and funny, balancing the total
mess of Die's self-indulgent lifestyle with the fierce maternal
protectiveness just under the surface. You're angry at her one minute
for behaving like a brat, and then terrified for her the next when Steve
has a horrific meltdown.
Then there's
Antoine-Olivier Pilon, who matches Dorval beat for beat. He's an
intense presence onscreen, constantly moving, cursing, dancing, teasing,
and getting into every variety of trouble he can. Already bigger than
Die, fifteen year-old Steve is physically intimidating and completely
unpredictable emotionally thanks to ADHD and other issues. But there's
also a awkward sweetness to him and a capacity to be something more.
Xavier Dolan includes several sequences, set to a soundtrack of '90s pop
songs, where Steve has these joyous, bright moments of happiness. The
soundtrack is brilliantly uncool - Eiffel 65's "Blue"? Dido's "White
Flag"? "Wonderwall"? - but instantly evocative. Add the gorgeous
visuals of Steve skateboarding, dancing with shopping carts, and losing
himself in the sound, and it's breathtaking cinema. There's one
particular, heartbreaking montage near the end that is hands down my
favorite piece of filmmaking of 2014.
There's also a third major character, Kyla, played by Suzanne
Clément, who is Die and Steve's new neighbor, and serves as the
catalyst for their gradual reconnection. She's in recovery from a
trauma that's never directly addressed , but after she gets caught up in
Die and Steve's lives, the situation improves for all three of
them. Suzanne Clément provides a strong presence, and though Kyla
is the least developed of the leads, she's never overshadowed by the
other two. I only wish that Kyla was given more to do, as her big
scenes are among the highlights of the film, but her role in the
narrative is very limited. I'd call her subplot the weak link of
"Mommy," but her character certainly isn't.
And
good grief, we can't forget about the director. I could write about the
daring of Xavier Dolan using a 1:1 square aspect ratio that extends to
widescreen for pivotal scenes, the influence of his background in queer
cinema, or all the awards that "Mommy" racked up at the Cannes film
festival last year. But honestly, the art house bona fides just feel
like distractions. I love the film because it made me feel so deeply for
these characters, and that's all that matters. "Mommy" is far from
perfect, with pacing issues and logic gaps, but this is one of the best
onscreen portrayals of a parent-child relationship in recent memory. And
there are moments here of pure cinematic bliss the likes of which we
see far too rarely.
Go
watch this movie. Don't let the fact that it's French language, or
artsy as hell, or that the main characters are a pack of hooligans
dissuade you. This is human drama at absolute its best.
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