Director: Xavier Dolan
Year Released: 2012
Rating: 3.0
Effective romantic drama that charts the highs and lows of the relationship between a production assistant (Suzanne Clément) and a literature teacher (Melvil Poupaud) who comes out to her as transgendered, and believes he's a woman in a man's body. Dolan, in his youthful hubris, feels he needs three hours to tell this story - which he doesn't, really - though it does show a filmmaker in a process of growth: Clément and Poupaud's chemistry holds much of this slightly bloated tale together and ground Dolan's penchant for extravagant sequences, garish dance music and slightly unrealistic dialogue. Many women would have probably bolted the minute their long-time lover reveals he's a transsexual (though capable of having sexual intercourse with a woman), but Clément's character, for the most part, hangs in there and is completely believable in her affection. Dolan may be the Visconti of his generation - refinement of his technique and storytelling will certainly come with age.
