"Il n’y a de vrai au monde que de déraisonner d’amour." – Alfred De Musset
In Xavier Dolan's cinematic colorful candy, the lines of lust, love, imagination and reality are blurred. Sweetly and in slow motion. With such precise, yet flowing dialogue. The colorful bubble bursts towards the end, but the lust cycle will continue, the film clearly shows that, as life always does. Dolan's style is so explicitly reminiscent of the many film geniuses - Almodovar (the colors! the reverent spotlight on the woman, the well picked spanish version of "Bang Bang"), Truffaut (this is another "Jules et Jim" inspired theme of a menage a trois), Wong Kar-wai (graceful slow motion with nostalgic soundtracks), Godard....The Godard cinematic reference seduced me the instant the filtered color screen (bed) shot appeared, accompanied by symphonic music with the same melody as the "Le Mepris" theme instrumental. This homage to Godard (intentional or unintentional), like a coup de foudre, brought sentimentalism to the screen, even though the scenes characterized by this Godardienne feature portrayed relationships that were close in body contact, but far in minds and hearts. Despite all these very explicit borrowings, they are not plagiaristic. The Francis-Marie-Nicolas lust triangle strongest originality (when compared to other themes that treat these triangular subjects) is in portraying the impact an emotional infatuation can have on an individual's (in)dependence and on other bonds (the friendship between Francis and Marie). How lust can direct all our actions and behaviors (including bending the image to others, visibly demonstrated by Marie's striving to replicate Hepburn's look and era, just based on one sentence from Nicolas about his admiration for Hepburn; including the sweet contemplative pleasure both Marie and Francis take, separately, to pick the perfect birthday gift for Nicolas). How lust can make you more alive than ever.
