After years of absence Louis returns home to announce to his mother and the other members of his family that he is soon going to die. But his welcome is somewhat different than he had anticipated. Everyone’s talking and no-one’s listening, and it’s more like he’s come back to a nest of vipers. This adaptation of the play by Jean-Luc Lagarce brought Xavier Dolan the Grand Prix at Cannes.
After a several-year absence writer Louis returns home to announce to his family that he is soon going to die. But his welcome into the fold is somewhat different than he anticipated. His mother, younger sister and particularly his older brother are too caught up in their private worlds and their trivial frustration to notice anyone except themselves. So it’s hardly likely that they’ll interpret the return of the prodigal son as anything else than his decision to come back to gloat about his own successes. Everyone finds a reason to blame Louis for something he did in the past, and time slips by in a spate of quarrels and bitter recriminations, despite the visitor’s attempts at conciliation. After Mommy, honoured at Cannes in 2014 (Jury Prize), 27-year-old Canadian Xavier Dolan returned to the competition with an adaptation of the play by acclaimed French dramatist Jean-Luc Lagarce (1957–1995), for which he secured the collaboration of a superb cast. Despite a controversial reception from the critics, on this occasion cinema’s “child prodigy” took away Cannes’ Grand Prix, the festival’s second highest award.
Eva Zaoralová (2012)
97 min / Color, DCP
Director Xavier Dolan
/ Screenplay Xavier Dolan podle stejnojmenné divadelní hry / based on a play of the same name by Jean-Luc Lagarce
/ Dir. of Photography André Turpin
/ Music Gabriel Yared
/ Editor Xavier Dolan
/ Art Director Colombe Raby
/ Producer Nancy Grant, Xavier Dolan, Sylvain Corbeil, Nathanaël Karmitz
/ Production Sons of Manual
/ Coproduction MK2
/ Cast Gaspard Ulliel, Vincent Cassel, Marion Cotillard, Léa Seydoux, Nathalie Baye
/ Sales Sphere Films International
/ Distributor Aerofilms
Xavier Dolan (b. 1989, Montreal, Canada) is the son of Québécois actor Manuel Tadros. He has appeared onscreen in television and film since age four. He left university in order to pursue a career as a film director. His debut I Killed My Mother (J’ai tué ma mère, 2009) commanded well-deserved attention and won three awards at Cannes in Directors’ Fortnight; it was also Canada’s choice for the Oscars and Césars. Subsequent films enjoyed a huge response at prestigious international festivals (Cannes, Venice): Heartbeats (Les amours imaginaires, 2010, Open Eyes, KVIFF), Laurence Anyways (2012), Tom at the Farm (Tom à la ferme, 2013, Horizons, KVIFF), Mommy (2014, Horizons, KVIFF) and It’s Only the End of the World (2016).
Aerofilms
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Sphere Films International
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Phone: +1 514 866 3020, +1 514 827 6428
E-mail: [email protected]
Ivo Andrle
Distributor
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