Le October 8, 2014, our ex-member of the editorial Wyzman published an article on Mommy and bulky hype. In a-t-on done too much on the last film of Xavier Dolan ? Is there flaming ? Maybe, maybe not. It is not my intention to reopen a debate, but rather to see, a few months after, cold, what’s left of it. The output DVD and Blu-Ray these last days is a perfect opportunity to immerse yourself in it. It could be, or not to be (dis)agreed with the comments removed by our ex-colleague. Nobody will be judged. But it must be confessed that he was just concluding his thoughts by a sentence irrefutable : “for if we have objective criteria, we will never be two to see it the same way. “
Not having been seen since its presentation at Cannes, there is a little less than a year, I indulged in a little memory exercise for me to realize what I had of the film. First, actors. A trio of the beautiful which so much has already been said. Then, the most important : a whirlwind of emotions. Screams, tears but mostly of joy. When he said to me, Mommy, my brain brings back those moments of happiness. Small brackets bucolic, where time is suspended to make the most of this. Before the storm returns. The first time we face such a break, it is with the scene of the longboard on the bottom of the “Colorblind “. An escape despite the narrowness of the format. The wide shots take over, the rotating camera has trouble framing Steve when he turns the cart on a parking lot. The happiness is too strong, elusive in full by the camera. Then it is the famous scene of “Céline Dion ” punctuating a dolly back to freedom. Comes a period of happiness, montage alterné, led by “Wonderwall” ofOasis. The framework expands during the plan, the symbol of ecstasy. This idea of setting the scene will be repeated towards the end, one detail. The expansion will not be in the plan but in the cut. A crazy flight lyric, where we see Steve grow and succeed in her life. The ubiquity of blur prevents to seize the moment and unreal all these steps. It’s hard to believe but it tries, enthralled by the impulse ofExperience by Ludovico Einaudi. In vain.
All the scenes that I have just mentioned are bathed in music. The alchemy between the image and the sound has never reached such an amplitude in the filmography of Dolan. It brings a magnificence able to say more than the characters. The use of “Wonderwall” puts its terrible relevance. As one of the ” it doesn’t “, by Celine Dion. On the paper, one is struck by the ringardise of these choices. Once in the image, it is stunning. Let us remember the words of the legendary sound ofOasis : “And all the roads/We have to walk are/Winding/And all the lights/That lead us there are/Blinding/There are many things/That I would Like/To say to you/but I don’t know how”. These things that we don’t know how to say, are embodied on the screen by a combination of heady pictures, and music. “You never forget/It was always a gesture Who betrays who we are ” said Celine Dion. A dance in communion, spin a cart in order to feel alive, to ride on the road to believe the king of the world : all the gestures that betray the exaltation of the characters, forgetting the fragility of the moment.
It turns out that after a new vision, it is in these moments that the magic of Mommy is deployed. My hairs are erect, my heart is packed. They were such as I could remember : happiness in the pure state. Because they were a breath of fresh air for me and the characters. Taken independently, one can realize the beauty of these scenes. It must, however, see in the continuity of the film in order to capture the entire force. You have to live with what violence, these moments end (the arrival of a letter, a dispute during a return home or a return to reality after a fantasy). They contribute to the composition of a rhythm roller coaster, where the viewer is rocked in the opposite feelings, and act as a decompression chamber welcome. The development sustainable is rarely a possibility in the films of Xavier Dolan. It is only a chimera, which escapes as soon as we think you entered it, this time, for good. Regardless of what will be done following the career of Dolan, let us remember, for the moment, the pure beauty of these scenes. Without worrying about what will follow or what has preceded it. Just, enjoy see a kid of 25 years old to be able to do the same to vibrate.