Aremarkably assured Xavier Dolan faced the world's critics Thursday at the press conference for his new film, Mommy, playing in competition at Cannes. Then again, it didn't hurt that rave reviews were already predicting the first Palme d'Or win for a Canadian and the youngest recipient of the prize in festival history.
The age question was raised, however, by a journalist wanting to know how the 25-year-old Montreal filmmaker has managed to write and direct five well-received movies in as many years.
'When should I start telling stories and sharing what's in me?' he responded. 'There might be a proper age to know how to tell stories, but I don't believe there's a proper age to start telling them.'
As to his nationality and whether Dolan would see any triumph as a victory for Quebec or for Canada, he was diplomatic. 'I'm from Quebec and Quebec is in Canada ... that is one thing we know for sure. I feel like my movie is very Quebecois but it would certainly be an international victory. For me it's not about a country or a province. ... It would just be an extraordinary message to the people my age, and to my generation.'
Mommy tells the story of a single mother (Anne Dorval) raising a violent and troubled teenager (Antoine-Olivier Pilon) who receives unexpected help and friendship from her neighbour (Suzanne Clément), a schoolteacher on sabbatical and suffering from a crippling stutter. Dolan warned against reading too much personal subtext into the film.
'My relationship with my mother inspired the mother in my first film [ J'ai tué ma mère / I Killed My Mother], which is autobiographical. This film has nothing to do with my life, however, or my mother.'
He noted that he was raised by a single mother and saw his father only on alternate weekends. He has since become much closer with his father. 'It's become a habit of mine to make films where the father is absent,' he said. 'The father-figure doesn't impress me. My own father does, however.'
Dolan, who was a child actor from the age of four, said he learned much from the film industry, but just as much from watching films. 'There's a lot of craft to observe and learn from, and as a kid I was fascinated by those codes and those rules.'
He remembers James Cameron's Titanic, which came out in 1997, when Dolan was just eight years old. 'When I saw Titanic, it dawned on me that there was an actual thinking in filmmaking, a moment when something should happen, a moment when it should not. It was so ambitious it gave me - maybe not the courage but the faith in crazy and ambitious ideas.'
He said that he did not fear for his film's success or failure. 'I have the fear of falling on those red steps,' he said, referring to the red carpet gala still to come Thursday night. 'I have the fear of stuttering when I shouldn't. But I don't have the fear of telling a story and creating it with people that inspire me.' The Cannes Film Festival runs until May 24, with the Palme d'Or and other prizes announced on Saturday night.
Post By http://arts.nationalpost.com/2014/05/23/with-rave-reviews-for-mommy-xavier-dolan-is-all-confidence-at-cannes/
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