News about Death and Life of John F. Donovan

No Cannes next year.


Xavier Dolan still smarting from scathing reviews of Juste la fin du monde


There is only one Xavier Dolan.

Now, some — like, say, many American film critics — might think it’s a good thing that there is such a limited quantity of Dolans. But others — like, say, the folks who run the Cannes Film Festival — undoubtedly would love a world that contained more filmmakers like Dolan.

The 27-year-old Montreal auteur has divided people since he first appeared on the scene in 2009 with J’ai tué ma mère, and that division was never more pronounced than this past May following the world première at Cannes of his latest film, Juste la fin du monde. There was no shortage of scathing reviews of this talky, ultra-tortured drama, particularly from U.S. critics, but the film ended up nabbing the Grand Prix — basically the runner-up to the top Cannes prize, the Palme d’or.

Juste la fin du monde finally had its Montreal première Monday night and is set to open in cinemas here Sept. 21. Dolan and three of the cast members — Gaspard Ulliel, Léa Seydoux and Nathalie Baye — attended a press conference Tuesday to talk up the film.

Based on the play by French author Jean-Luc Lagarce, it’s the story of a playwright (Ulliel) who returns to his family in rural France after being away for 12 years and receives a mixed reaction from his brother (Vincent Cassel), sister (Seydoux), mother (Baye) and sister-in-law (Marion Cotillard). It virtually all takes place in the family home, and this dysfunctional clan spends a good chunk of the film snapping at each other.

“It’s the film that I’m most proud of,” said Dolan. “It’s the film of mine that I found to be the most whole. All the elements are in place.”


But many American critics don’t share that view. The Hollywood Reporter called it “a cold and deeply unsatisfying” film. Variety dubbed it “a frequently excruciating dramatic experience.”

In an interview after the press conference, a visibly fatigued Dolan said those harsh reviews from Cannes still haunt him.

“I understood the message in the way the Americans treated the film, in the way they continued to troll me on Twitter after I won the prize, in the way they compared my acceptance speech to the worst Oscar speeches,” said Dolan. “Five or six major American critics said that it was the worst film to win a major prize at Cannes in the past 10 or 20 years.

“I was extremely hurt. I’ve always read the reviews of my films. I’ve always found it very interesting to learn what people think of my work. Without knowing what people think of my work, I’m just in the dark. I need to know what people think. But this was like reading a psychological diagnostic. It was so personal and so cruel. When I got back here after Cannes, I was in a state of shock. Something was broken and I don’t think it will ever be repaired.”

Five of Dolan’s films have played Cannes, including J’ai tué ma mère, Les amours imaginaires, Laurence Anyways, Mommy and Juste la fin du monde. But his next film will almost certainly not be making the trek to the Croisette. He has already spent several weeks shooting The Death and Life of John F. Donovan, his first English-language feature; after a lengthy hiatus, filming will pick up in the spring in London and Prague. So it won’t be ready for next May’s Cannes festival. And that’s just fine with Dolan.

“I don’t think I’d present a film like this at Cannes,” said Dolan. “It’s a film about an American TV star who is framed by the American media system. There are bits in it that are so much like what I lived in Cannes, and I’m afraid that people would think it’s my revenge project. Except that I wrote it five years ago (with Jacob Tierney).”

Dolan said the John F. Donovan shoot has been incredibly stressful. To prove his point, he pulled up the sleeves of his jacket to show the torn-up skin on his elbows. It’s due to emotional strain, he said.

Donovan is his highest-profile project yet, with a cast that includes several well-known Hollywood actors, including Kit Harington, Jessica Chastain, Natalie Portman and Susan Sarandon.

“It’s been tough because of the lack of preparation,” said Dolan. “My mission isn’t to finish on time. It’s to make a good film. But there’s nothing worse than not having enough time to prepare properly. We paid the price every day. We were supposed to finish shooting the film in November. But when I came back from Cannes, I said I couldn’t, that I thought I would die if we did that. I thought that physically and emotionally I wasn’t able to do it.”

http://montrealgazette.com/entertainment/movies/xavier-dolan-still-smarting-from-scathing-reviews-of-juste-la-fin-du-monde




Xavier Dolan deserves a break

http://www.laineygossip.com/Xavier-Dolans-Its-Only-The-End-of-the-World-TIFF-movie-review/44903