Xavier Dolan tweeted in 2018 that "I'll make films here in Quebec for the rest of my life." Dolan did make Matthias et Maxime (2019) in Quebec. What we might not have expected is that Matthias et Maxime is Dolan's final film.
We noted earlier this year that Dolan just finished directed a TV mini series The Night Logan Woke Up | La nuit où Laurier Gaudreault s'est réveillé.
As much as we celebrated Dolan's first 5 films, outstanding in so many ways, we sensed in his last 3 films that something was different. We say this with great kindness: Dolan puts a lot into his films. Being able to keep up that pace proved to be difficult.
The critics loved to jump on Dolan for those last 3 films as a direct comparison to the first 5 films. Your humble narrator would offer up that while there were issues, those last 3 films were still better than most films out there.
- I Killed My Mother | J'ai tué ma mère (2009)
- Heartbeats | Les amours imaginaires (2010)
- Laurence Anyways (2012)
- Tom at the Farm | Tom à la ferme (2013)
- Mommy (2014)
We call this collection of films the Quebecois 5, even if Matthias et Maxime was also shot in Quebec. Even if we think Tom à la ferme is the weakest of the 5, all of these films are extraordinary.
His use of Anne Dorval and Suzanne Clement is a great example of writing wonderful parts for women of a certain age.
Even if this is all Dolan did as a filmmaker, he would go down as one of the best filmmakers in the world.
- It's Only the End of the World | Juste la fin du monde (2016)
- The Death & Life of John F. Donovan (2018)
- Matthias et Maxime (2019)
Juste la fin du monde is still the last Canadian film to make the shortlist for the Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film.
Dolan put too much time and effort into The Death & Life of John F. Donovan. We think the film is better than most critics say but we acknowledge a number of problems with the film.
As much as we enjoyed Matthias et Maxime, we were left a bit puzzled as to where that film fell in his filmmaking path.
Heralded Canadian filmmaker Jean-Marc Vallée passes away at the age of 58
The obvious comparison with Dolan is the late Jean-Marc Vallée. Vallée made some outstanding films and switched over to directing films he did not write as well as television.
Denis Villeneuve did not write most of his American films. Perhaps Dolan saw their career paths as inspiration.
Dolan is in high demand as an actor so that is one advantage he has over Vallée and Villeneuve.
CanadianCrossing.com film coverage
Dolan has directed music videos: Indochine: College Boy (2013), Adele: Hello (2015), Adele: Easy on Me (2021) and a short film with Julia Roberts in Happy Diamonds (2021).
Maybe Dolan will direct more TV than films where the pressure isn't as intense.
CanadianCrossing.com film reviews
Jean-Claude Lauzon only produced 2 feature films in his brief filmmaking career: Un zoo la nuit | Night Zoo (1987) and Léolo (1992). Lauzon was working on his third feature film when he died in a plane crash in 1997.
This is a reminder that not every filmmaker is Steven Spielberg, who just wants to make films for the rest of their existence. As sad as this news is, we should appreciate that Xavier Dolan gave us so much in his brief time as a filmmaker. Appreciate what is there as opposed to wondering what might have been.
photo credit: Xavier Dolan Instagram
Comments