Xavier Dolan has been a polarizing figure for many cinephiles over the last 10 years. After surprising the film world, in his mid-20s to boot, with the critically-acclaimed “Laurence Anyways,” “Mommy,” and "Tom at the Farm," the way Dolan has concocted his movies ever since has been polarizing at best, with critics universally panning them. So, when did the artistic freefall begin? It all started with 2016's "It's Only the End of the World," a film that won the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes. but not without being dubbed one of the worst movies to ever win a prize at that festival. Sure, many French audiences and critics dug it, but the overall consensus stateside was not pleasant. To make things worse, Dolan was about to embark on his first English-language film "The Death and Life of John F. Donovan," which turned out to be a disasterpiece of the highest-order. What do you make of a movie that completely wiped out Jessica Chastain’s performance from its final cut? Stamp a major red flag on it.
In 2019, Dolan went back to Cannes to debut a film about childhood best friends, titled Matthias & Maxime (played by Dolan and Gabriel D’Almeida Freitas), as they try to wrestle the feelings they have for each other in vague and ubiquitous ways. It was a terrible movie. The ill reaction to it angered Dolan so much that he decided not to bring it to TIFF. Dolan had been a mainstay of the Canadian film festival ever since his debut (“I Killed My Mother”) premiered there in 2009 . The Quebecois writer-director had been there the previous year for the misbegotten and ill-received ‘John F. Donovan.’
Regardless, the film, “Matthias and Maxime” did not get released in the U.S until now, more than a year later after its Cannes debut. Arthouse streaming and distribution service Mubi has announced that it will be premiering the film this summer for American audiences in the United States, the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America (excluding Mexico), and India. A release date is forthcoming.
Back at Cannes 2019 I wrote about “Matthias and Maxine”:
“Dolan has decided to try and make his most mature film to date with “Matthias & Maxime,” by tackling adulthood and responsibilities, and ditching the usual, overtly stylized filmmaking that made him a household name in the first place. Instead of being the extravagant Dolan vehicle we expect, this is a meditative, but comatose approach from the 30-year-old director. A far more quiet and distanced work from his previous outings, its an attempt to mature and move forward as an artist, but the movie proves he’s just not ready for that kind of maturity.”
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