Xavier Dolan says his latest film, Juste la fin du monde (It's Only the End of the World), is the best film he has ever done. The 2016 Cannes Film Festival jury nodded in agreement, awarding the film the Grand Prix, runner-up to the top prize, the Palme d'Or.
Mommy tied for the Jury Prize in 2014: his previous high water mark at Cannes.
Dolan is the second Canadian filmmaker to win the Grand Prix. Atom Egoyan took the prize in 1997 for The Sweet Hereafter. No Canadian filmmaker has ever won the Palme d’Or.
Juste la fin du monde also won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury. That independent jury honored Dolan for "filming in a transcendental way." Denys Arcand won this prize for Jésus de Montréal in 1989 and Atom Egoyan for Adoration in 2008 and The Sweet Hereafter in 1996.
The film stars Vincent Cassel, Marion Cotillard, Léa Seydoux, and Nathalie Baye (who worked with Dolan in Laurence Anyways) about a man who returns home after a long absence to say he is about to die.
Some critics have not been too kind to the film, but a Grand Prix win does help.
“You have to remain true to yourself, no matter what people think,” Dolan said in accepting the award. “It is an unoriginal thing to say, but it is what it is. So that’s how I feel, right here, right now.”
Dolan accepted the award from fellow Canadian Donald Sutherland, a member of the jury this year. Dolan was on the jury for the 2015 Cannes film festival.
“Thank you for feeling the emotion of the film,” Dolan told the jury.
Dolan and the Cannes Film Festival are well acquainted. This was Dolan's 6th trip: 4 of the 5 Quebecois films (all but Tom at the Farm) and the 2015 jury appearance.
We mentioned the 3rd place finish for Mommy. Dolan's debut J'ai tué ma mère won several prizes including the Prix Regards Jeunes in 2009. Suzanne Clément shared the Un Certain Regard Award for Best Actress for Laurence Anyways in 2012. Before 2016, Dolan had already won 6 prizes at the festival.
Dolan starts shooting his next film, The Death And Life Of John F Donovan, in July. The film is about a movie star who corresponds with an 11-year-old actor and how that correspondence threatens to destroy his world. Jessica Chastain, Kit Harington, Susan Sarandon, and Kathy Bates (and possibly Adele) are in the cast.
CanadianCrossing.com film coverage
An Arctic romance and a bear sound like suggestions to an improv group on "what would you find in a Canadian film." Kim Nguyen, who you might recall from War Witch, wrote and directed Two Lovers and a Bear starring Tatiana Maslany and Dane DeHaan. Gordon Pinsent supplies the voice of the bear in the film that made its debut at Cannes.
The two lovers — Lucy and Roman — aren't quite sure whether the romance can continue as they prepare to go separate ways. The Arctic part is very real since Iqaluit, Nunavut, was the main filming location.
Maslany always intrigues me but am especially interested in seeing Nguyen's work in a different film. War Witch was a good film but very depressing to watch.
When I first heard about this film, I thought back to Denis Cote's Vic and Flo Saw a Bear. That film had good potential and you wanted to root for something, someone in the film. I would rooted for the bear, except there was no bear. I have more confidence in Two Lovers and a Bear knowing there really is a bear.
Mean Dreams from Nathan Morlando was the first Canadian film to debut at the festival. The film follows two teens (Sophie Nélisse and Josh Wiggins) who come from broken, abusive homes. Colm Feore and Bill Paxton are chasing after the teens in the northern Ontario landscape around Sault Ste. Marie. Morlando won Best Canadian First Feature at TIFF 2011 for Edwin Boyd: Citizen Gangster.
Nélisse was the youngest person to ever win a Genie for Monsieur Lazhar in 2012.
Both films were shown as part of the Directors Fortnight section known for up-and-coming filmmakers. Those two films also have an intriguing combination of a Canadian female lead and American male lead.
---
François Jaros was in the Critics Week lineup with Oh What a Wonderful Feeling about a girl who grows up in a single night. The 14-minute film also features Karelle Tremblay, whom I have enjoyed in Our Loved Ones and Corbo.
Leah Johnston was in Telefilm's Not Short on Talent program with Ingrid and the Black Hole about two children who imagine the possibilities of traveling through time.
Actress Marie-Josée Croze was a judge for the short film award.
---
Some closing thoughts …
We are thrilled with Dolan's continued success at Cannes, but watching Dolan win the Grand Prix for a "French film" feels bittersweet. The Cannes festival has done well to recognize his Quebecois work, but we do worry about Dolan becoming famous for non-Quebecois films. Denis Villeneuve and Jean-Marc Vallee aren't likely to return to Quebec anytime soon. We don't want the same fate for Dolan.
We want to devote time and thought to Donald Sutherland's take on Canadian identity in film, so we will have our take later this week.
---
Photo credit: Yves Herman/Reuters
Comments