Release Date (UK) – TBC
Certificate (UK) – TBC
Country – Canada
Director – Xavier Dolan
Runtime –96 mins
Starring – Xavier Dolan, Anne Dorval

Québécoise filmmaker Xavier Dolan has been acting since childhood, and currently provides the voice of Stan for the Quebec version of South Park, but his debut film I Killed my Mother (J’ai tué ma mere) could not be further away from South Parks crude satire on the artistic spectrum.

Premiering at the BFI Lesbian & Gay Film Festival last week, I Killed My Mother follows the story of teenager Hubert (played by Dolan himself) and his constant warring with his mother (Anne Dorval). Once close, Hubert now rejects everything his mother stands for, from her unfashionable choice of clothes to her style of parenting. When his mother discovers Hubert’s homosexuality via the mother of his boyfriend, she feels so hurt that she packs him off to boarding school.

Dolan is clearly a cinephile and frequently recycles visual tricks used by filmmakers through Wong Kar Wai to Gus Van Sant. Most mentionable is the use of slow motion shots of character movements, set to almost identical music as the slow motion shots in Wong Kar Wai’s In the Mood for Love. Even the films titular theme is stolen from Truffaut’s The 400 Blows, as Hubert tells his teacher his mother is dead just as Antoine does. Its apparent that Dolan is clearly recognising these films as influential and weaves these intertextual references seamlessly into his own story, rather than simply replicating them.

For a complete beginner, Dolan uses the camera surprisingly well, especially considering he is in the majority of the films shots himself. He often frames Hubert almost off-screen to highlight the separation of mother and son. Most beautiful to watch are a series of black and white shots of Hubert filming himself, conversing about his love for his mother. One thing that could have been tidied up is an over reliance on using series of instantaneous close ups of irrelevant items to the plot to create emotive ideas. Done once or twice in a film this is fine, but Dolan overuses the technique and it starts to annoy.

I Killed my Mother was also written by Dolan and features some outstanding comedic brilliance. The arguments between mother and son often get so ridiculous that even the characters themselves begin to laugh at the stupidity and stubbornness of their own actions. An extended monologue with Dorval sees her give a mesmerising outburst to a teacher who blames Hubert’s misbehaviour on her single parenthood status. Both Dolan and Dorval give incredibly realistic performances and for anyone who remembers their teenage angst or has parented a teen, the film will evoke many of your own memories.

Although the screaming rants can get tiresome, the treatment of Hubert’s homosexuality is well handled and is not over or under exaggerated, treated sensitively almost coyly. A scene where Hubert is attacked for his homosexuality doesn’t really fit in but Dolan states the film is semi-autobiographical. Presumably this is something that he has had to encounter and wanted to highlight.

For a person directing at the tender of just 20, I killed my Mother is an astounding film., If you have the chance to see it then its simply not to be missed. It won Dolan 3 directorial prizes at Cannes, but a UK release date has yet to be set.

I Killed My Mother Trailer