Review of Mommy (2014) by Johnny M — 30 Jan 2015

For the fifth time in five years, now 25 year old wunderkind Xavier Dolan delivers another cinematic masterpiece. "Mommy" is in many ways a companion piece to Dolan's directorial debut "J'ai tué ma mère," the semiautobiographical tale of the then teenaged actor-turned-director's difficult relationship with his mother. The mother is still played by Anne Dorval. Whereas "J'ai tué ma mère" had a note of immature vengeance in it, "Mommy" is much more compassionate, nuanced and open to a point that makes it a bit difficult but ultimately rewarding to penetrate. The point of view is the mother's this time around.

The film is set in a fictional Canada where parents are allowed to hand their children directly and completely over to state care citing financial reasons or threats of violence. Diane "Die" Després (Dorval, explosively alive), a middle aged widower has to contemplate the possibility when her teenaged son Steve (Antoine-Olivier Pilon) is thrown out of a facility for troubled youth. Die is broke, doesn't feel confident in her ability to raise her erratic, often dangerously violent son. She drinks and is volatile herself. Now she has to assume direct responsibility of Steve's actions again.

For me, Dolan is the most interesting director working today. I'm so glad he's been so prolific, because I anticipate every one of his films more than any others. In the beginning of this, his so-far greatest film festival success, I began to worry. The realistically shot scenes of Die and Steve building a life together were good, but they didn't completely enchant me the way I've come to expect from Dolan. Also, this is the director's most direct attempt at comedy, a difficult genre for me and again a good but not phenomenal effort during the first act. Was Dolan letting me down, or just my overgrown expectations of apotheosis?

Throughout most the film I was unsure if "Mommy" was Dolan-phenomenal, just normal-phenomenal or just good. The director excels in depicting conflict and melodrama in ways that most filmmakers would turn off-putting or annoying. This film is at times off-putting and very annoying. Both Die and especially Steve are very difficult to like. The script is so daringly unpredictable it begins to border on incongruous. But it all grows, and after contemplating the film as a whole I was completely sold. The characters feel completely flesh-and-blood real, the melodrama turns effectively allegoric and the tonal confusion rewards the viewer after being processed.

The key ingredient in making "Mommy" a true masterpiece is Kyla, a woman who lives across the street from Die with her family. Kyla is a teacher who is recovering from a heavy stutter brought on by an unspecified breakdown and resurfaced shyness. Kyla is injected into the story just as the relationship between the protagonist mother and her son turns dangerously violent. She befriends the disastrous duo and balances the dynamic.

Kyla is played by Suzanne Clément who portrayed a similar teacher in "J'ai tué ma mère" and a vastly different character in Dolan's 2012 tour de force "Laurence Anyways". She shows her amazing range again in a role that defines the drama, offering a reflective surface to the otherwise numbingly fierce exchanges between Die and Steve. In the end Steve and Die may be the main characters, but Kyla is our companion as viewers, the silent focus point that brings the emotional cacophony together into something tangible.

As always, cinematography and music are Xavier Dolan's allies even more than they are in an average film. This time, the soundtrack is actually quite bad for my taste; emotional pop from the 90's mainly, but the director makes it work. In a Dolan scene, even Celine Dion has an impact. Trust me. The cinematography gets more experimental as the film progresses, forming yet again a unique, exceptionally beautiful language that takes us within the characters. Some frames are so tenderly beautiful they make you want to cry.

What "Mommy" is most notably successful in is the melancholy, deeply felt presentation of youth, mostly from a parent's perspective. Pilon's Steve is dangerously volatile and dangerously fragile, explosive, infuriating, but so very real. I remember being told as a kid by some relatives that teen years were hazardous, that people often messed up everything during that period of flux. I was dead afraid of my own back then. I thankfully never got or wanted into any trouble, but now I'm glad this film didn't exist when I was that timid child afraid of growing up. If I had seen "Mommy" then, I wouldn't have been just afraid, I would have been in panic.