Dolan himself plays Maxim
<b>Xavier</b> Dolan's film "Matthias and Maxime" was shortlisted for the main competition unit of the Cannes Film Festival, and in an interview with the Time Network reporter, Dolan said that this film was dedicated to his friends, and when he succeeded at a young age, it was lonely that followed, and it was these friends who helped Dolan through this time. Dolan's first film, I Killed My Mom, was critically acclaimed when he was 19 years old.
The film also won an award at Cannes — a rare award for such a young director, and after that, his career in his twenties was quite glamorous. Now 30 years old, Matthias and Maxim is his eighth film, a tender drama about a group of good friends living in Montreal, Doran's hometown, and most of the actors in the film are in real life, and they are also friends of the director and screenwriter. "<b>The movie is meant to thank these friends</b>," Dolan told Time.com.
Dolan's first film, I Killed My Mom
"They brought meaning to my life, I felt very lonely in my early twenties, so I put most of my energy into work and career, and <b>I never had a real relationship, at least not for long</b>." And they resonate with me, they care about me, they understand me very well. They make me happy and I make them laugh too. It's a mutual relationship, and in life, a lot of times what we do doesn't get the response we want. This relationship does not arise automatically and cannot be guaranteed.
"But <b>their friendship with me is firm, unlike the public's love for me, or the recognition of me by critics, or the welcome of film festivals</b>, their presence is indispensable." In this film, Dolan plays Maxim, a young man who has a bad relationship with his former drug addicted mother and wants to leave Montreal to work in Australia. Gabriel D'Ameida Freitas, played Matthias, is Maxim's hairteacher, who has a good job and a girlfriend.
Dolan on the set of John Donovan's Death and Life
When they reluctantly agreed to star in a student short film, the two of them had to play a kissing scene. The kiss changed the feelings between Matthias and Maxim—as were the close friends around them, who tried to discern whether there was a friendship between them. Dolan started out as a child actor, and as a director, his other works include "Two-Faced Lawrence", "Tom on the Farm", "Mommy" and "The Death and Life of John Donovan".
<b>Mtime: In many ways, this movie is one of your most authentic works. Compared to some of your other works, the characters seem to be more likable and less controversial. Did you mean to do that? </b>
Dolan: I don't know if I did it on purpose, but this time in the use of the lens, my stylization has weakened and I have adopted a more natural approach, which is my choice. But I never found my roles in other films controversial. My purpose is to thank these friends I love in real life, <b>we don't play our role in the movie, it's</b> not about us, it's not about our friends<b>. I just wanted to have a film that would embody that soft, tender feeling between friends</b>. And more stable, calm, gentle.
<b>Mtime: When does the camaraderie that inspired you to make this film date back? </b>
Dolan: Catherine Brunet (Lisa in the film) plays the girl who takes care of me, and we both met when we were 8 years old. We were both child stars and made movies and TV series together very early. Others met me 7 or 5 years ago. They all made me feel a sense of belonging, it was a missing part of my life, and I really haven't felt that way, at least not since high school.
<b>Mtime: So you met each other in your twenties? </b>
Dolan: We either just met or we reacquainted ourselves with each other. Some people and I only met two years ago, and what I'm trying to say is that we're not one-on-one close friends, but a group of people who have become close in the last two or three years.
Dolan on the red carpet in Cannes this year
<b>Mtime: The scene of this group of people together feels very real, sincere, is this distilled from your real experience? </b>
Dolan: Not all of them. Like I said, it's not exactly our own story. The traits you see in one of these characters may have been borrowed from others. But these roles are played by professional actors, <b>not by ordinary people to appear "real" or let them improvise. The scenes are carefully designed according to the script</b>, and we rehearse them, because to create that sense of reality, it is not achievable through improvisation, it requires rigorous design.
<b>We don't really like to play on the spot</b>. That approach may be very effective for some people, but for us, it will make us feel fake or contrived, and the play is limited. So we would write down every scene and revise it over and over again until every line was perfect and felt the same way we usually spoke.
<b>Mtime: You cut the camera off before the two protagonists, Matthias and Maxim, kissed. Why? In fact, the movie expresses that what happens in front of the camera will affect real life, can you talk about this aspect? Is this your own experience? </b>
Dolan: I don't know if I've had this experience, but the emotions and feelings that movies bring to me have been permeating my life, influencing and determining some of my actions, reactions, and my view of life. I think the impact is twofold — movies affect life, and life affects the way we create and make movies. But <b>I deliberately didn't show that kiss</b>, and I think we know from the beginning of the story that the idea of kissing a friend makes Matthias uncomfortable and upset, but Maxim doesn't care that much.
Matthias's life was orderly—he had a job, he talked about a girlfriend, he had a system in place to control his entire lifestyle. But Maxim had nothing, he was ready to embark on a long journey, and Maxim didn't seem to take his sexuality or masculinity seriously, and whether he was masculine or not. Anyway, growing up, his birthmark (in the movie, Maxim has a birthmark on the side of his face) has made him feel different from others.
So I think that <b>after this tension appears on the screen, it will be more interesting to get rid of the kiss scene, because it will leave a little suspense and make people want to see this kiss scene</b>. We can only see what they look like in the mirror when they watch the short film together in the living room. We deliberately want to keep it, so that everyone wants to go to the kissing scene, and when the kissing scene really comes, the emotions are released, and the stimulation here is stronger than watching the kissing drama in front of it - at least that's how I feel it.
Matthias, played by Gabriel D'Almeida Freitas
<b>Mtime: When you make a new film, do you feel pressured by everyone's expectations? </b>
Dolan: <b>There will be pressure, I didn't feel stressed before, then it felt much better than now</b>. But then I felt that I should face criticism and flattery with the same attitude, only then can I feel truly free. I made a lot of effort <b>to satisfy some of the criticisms I read about my work. I reinvented myself and changed my way of thinking, just to cater to some people</b>. It's weird because in the middle of twenty to thirty, I feel like people are saying I've done too much, or that my movies are too noisy, too gorgeous, too intense.
For this time I decided to do something relatively calm, gentle, soft, but I felt that it was not enough. At least I don't think this time is impressive enough. So, <b>I'm a little resistant to people's negative comments about my work, I've always cared a lot about what other people think</b>, and I don't know what to give up and what to focus on. How could I not care? People who say they never read any reviews or criticisms confuse me, because without looking at them, how do you know how people think of your work?
And in filming, these ideas can bother you; what will people think? What will they say about me this time? What will they like and hate? It was hard to handle, so <b>I wanted to go acting after I was thirty</b>.
"The film is dedicated to my friends, but not exactly our own story"
<b>Mtime: Why did you give Maxim a birthmark on his face? </b>
Dolan: I've always been fascinated by scars and birthmarks, and I always find them beautiful, especially because I know that people with scars or birthmarks think they're ugly and ugly. Maybe they learn to love themselves when they grow up, but you feel that this is a difficult time in their lives, a problem they have to face. Sometimes <b>I also have to try to resist what other people think and say about me. I've long wanted to use the birthmark in my films</b>, and I think it means a lot to Maxim.
In his time with his friends, he felt that he belonged to this group, and they accepted him with jokes and enthusiasm, and you could tell that they were very close to each other; there was unity and brotherhood between them. They didn't even seem to see his birthmark—it meant nothing to them. The birthmark is so big that the audience can obviously see it, but his friends only mention this birthmark once in the movie, which makes us feel how close they are to each other when they grew up together.
I feel that the friends I have met in the past few years when I am almost thirty years old have brought me peace of mind to a certain extent, eliminated my uneasiness, and <b>opened up many knots that make me feel ugly or self-disgusted</b>. It's as if I have such marks too — just not the ones that grow on my face and can be seen, and they make me forget that the marks exist, so part of the design of the birthmark is derived from this.
Dolan as a child
<b>Mtime: It's interesting that the characters you create all have very different backgrounds, how important is it for you to portray that background? </b>
Dolan: In fact, each of us comes from a different background, and having money or not being rich has never been a decisive factor in ensuring friendship. I'm not a kid from a rich family, and <b>they don't naturally feel like a match, which is interesting</b>. I've met some people who look the same and talk and behave the same way. But there are also people who come from different social backgrounds, but when they talk and laugh, they feel very similar, but they look very different. They are different in height and physical appearance, and their families are different, and in reality, Montreal is like this.
It's a very diverse place and we speak both English and French. I think it's important to show this diversity if we want to explore the identity of a particular generation, a certain group of young people. <b>I have Egyptian ancestry</b> (my father is Egyptian), <b>Gabriel</b> (who plays Matthias) <b>is Portuguese</b>, the others are mostly white, except <b>for Adib Alkhalidey</b> (who plays Shariff), <b>who is Moroccan</b>. I think that's what makes people feel more real and clear.
Dolan on set
<b>Mtime: You said that Matthias and Maxim is a "more sober and gentle" work than your previous films, can you tell more about the filming process and the origin of the story? </b>
Dolan: I don't think there's any need to restrain myself, this story should be directed that way. <b>I don't think it's slow-paced, I think it's tense</b>, and I think it's about masculinity and the concerns that these two men are getting. I know it's not a fun thing for some people right now, but for me it is. Because it's about our understanding of gender and masculinity, I've been surrounded by people in my twenties who don't know how to define my masculine identity.
Some people are afraid to explore something new and different – they feel like they're heterosexual, maybe they're heterosexual, maybe they're trying to explore. <b>I've been wrestling with the ambiguity of men, but not that I made this film in response to the previous ones</b>, feeling, "I've got to make a change, I've got to change the status quo..." I just simply felt that it should be shot this way, the colors should be a little lighter, a little softer, a little paler, and the film should be more cautious and better focused on the characters themselves.
Dolan also directed Adele's MV, "Hello."
<b>Mtime: One of the ideas expressed in the film is that a kiss can change a life and allow people to discover new sexual orientations. Have you ever seen or experienced something like this? </b>
Dolan: I haven't actually seen or experienced anything like this, but I know very well that the new generation doesn't have these problems with the older generation. <b>My generation is not sexually free enough, unlike today's young people</b>. I'm still young, but not the youngest. I think today's young people's understanding of sexuality has improved a lot, they feel free, <b>and I want to experience that freedom</b>. Apparently, Matthias and Maxim were very afraid of the meaning of this freedom.
What does this freedom mean when defining what kind of person you really are? Can they still be as masculine as before? What gives them manliness? Recently I met a heterosexual young man who I mean by younger than I am. We went on an adventure together, and I couldn't believe he would be that mature. We're just a few years apart, but the way we see things is completely different, and <b>I never felt like I had the freedom to try something new</b>. Because my education told me that I was such a person, and I should do that.
The film does not even show the rejection and judgment of society for Matthias and Maxim, no one is judging them, everyone in the film is very open and inclusive, it is their problems that look at themselves, which is the problem in their relationship. So, this is something that happens to me all the time, and I'm curious, <b>what do you do when love unconsciously enters your life and you have to take risks, redefine yourself, change your past perception of yourself? </b>Is it okay to do this? Can friendship withstand such a test?