Xavier Dolan’s Authorial Film Style and Form

By Lanndis De Lallo
March 14, 2016

With 5 feature films under his belt in 5 years, Xavier Dolan, the 26 year old Quebecois
filmmaker, has already made a name for himself. Dolan made headlines when his first feature
film ​J’ai Tué Ma Mère​ (an autobiographical drama that he wrote, directed, costume designed,
and starred in) received critical acclaim and an 8 minute standing ovation at the 2009 Cannes
Film Festival. He was 19 years old. All but one of his films have since premiered at Cannes, his
last feature ​Mommy ​winning the Jury Prize in 2014. Since his first feature, he has written,
directed, edited, costume designed, and produced all of his films, and starred in more than half of
them. ​J’ai Tué Ma Mère​, ​Les Amours Imaginaires​, ​Laurence Anyways​, ​Tom à la Ferme​, and
Mommy​ all contribute to a unique style, and because Dolan is a filmic polymath, his writing,
directing, editing, cinematography, sound, montage, and mise en scène, all speak to a harmonic
relationship between form and content; “aesthetics are nothing if there is no connection with
meaning,” (Dolan).

When Dolan released ​J’ai Tué Ma Mère​, many critics understood the film to be a
whimsical, expressive, and free wheeling piece. It was not until the release of ​Les Amours
Imaginaires​ that Dolan’s formal practises became evident. With each release, it became more
obvious that his films are not a collection of erratic moments, but a display of strong film style
that Dolan employs and upon which he continually expands. Furthermore, Dolan’s films are a
journey through his understanding of film technique, and his acquisition of the resources
required to accomplish more ambitious projects. Xavier Dolan is by all definitions an auteur. His
films not only exude his personal style, but every frame, shot, and take are forged in an
impressive understanding of formal style and technique that convey the complex meaning he
ascribes to each of his films.

Dolan’s auteurism begins with the genesis of the story, as he writes all his own
screenplays, and he expresses a profound understanding for the prominent themes therein. Dolan
was asked in an interview with George Stroumboulopoulos “do you identify as a Quebec
filmmaker?” to which he responded “Sure… my movies are soaked with the Quebecois attitude
and culture and language and vocabulary and history” (Dolan). Interestingly, after some
deliberation, he confessed that he identifies as a Canadian person, but not as a “Canadian
filmmaker” which is an important distinction. Dolan’s comment speaks to the difference between
Quebec and the rest of Canada; the French speaking province has its own unique culture and
history that non-Quebecois people may find confusing and alien, and thus his films are
complètement québécois​. Although all of Dolan’s films to date are set in Quebec, the auteur does
not only identify as a Quebecois filmmaker; his understanding and appreciation of international
film practises further drives his creative ambition. Dolan states that “American people are so
good at telling stories” whereas “European cinema is focused often on ​doing cinema.​” His
intimate connection with Quebecois culture and his fascination with foreign film principles
define his film style.

An openly gay man, Dolan finds much inspiration from the LGBT community, many of
his films centring around queer themes. ​J’ai Tué Ma Mère​ portrays Hubert struggling to come
out to his mother, amidst an already turbulent relationship. ​Les Amours Imaginaires​ shows
friends Francis and Marie fighting for the affection of Nicolas, a handsome stranger. ​Laurence
Anyways​ displays lovers Laurence and Frederique as the former becomes a woman. ​Tom à la
Ferme​, Dolan’s first thriller film, depicts Tom, who visits his dead boyfriend’s family farm and
is thrown into an abusive relationship with the deceased’s older brother, Francis. ​Mommy​ is his
only film to date with no explicitly queer themes; depicting a single mother’s relationship with
her hyper-active, attached son. This leads to another one of Dolan’s prolific themes; in ​J’ai Tué
Ma Mère,​ ​Laurence Anyways​, and ​Mommy,​ the character’s relationship with his parents,
specifically his mother, is prominent. Dolan explains that although he loves both of his parents
deeply, he has had some afflictions with his mother and although that was not its main purpose,
J’ai Tué Ma Mère​ was his catharsis. Dolan has a love and fascination for female (and maternal)
characters. He says “female roles are often more interesting and profound than male roles”
(Dolan) because of their innate struggle to be heard, and to claim their rights and liberties in
society. His compassion for these complexities drives his inspiration to write stories. He writes
women to “understand them, to defend them, and to give them a voice” (Dolan). Therefore,
women often take the spotlight in his films, and thus their presence has become a key element of
the filmmaker’s style. Finally, the characters in Dolan’s films all have an important component
in common that impacts the way their story is shot and presented; Dolan’s films feature
characters who define themselves through their job, their personality, their hobbies, and/or their
costumes as an ​artist​ or at the very least a “close curator of style” (Heron). This distinction is
paramount in understanding many of Dolan’s choices regarding the formal qualities of each film.
Performance, or the act of watching and being watched by an audience, impacts not only the
elements within the characters’ diegetic control like their costuming and movement, but also the
cinematography, editing, and sound through which Dolan presents them.

Dolan begins with costuming when he builds characters; he believes that “[costumes are]
everything when [he is] building identity” (Dolan) because the designer (or character) is giving
the audience a visual understanding of who that character is, who they want to be, and how they
want to be perceived. Therefore, the characters in all of his films have a carefully curated
wardrobe. In ​Laurence Anyways,​ Laurence is initially displayed shirtless with boxer briefs,
almost naked - a canvas waiting to be dressed. When she makes her transition to womanhood,
she wears elegant and kitschy ensembles of deep purples and blues in moments of revelry and
then in rare, intimate moments she dresses in pants and jackets, as if to conform for those who
may judge her. His first period film, ​Laurence Anyways​ takes place in the early 1990’s. Dolan
highlights the vibrance and flourish of the 1980’s and combines the raw edgy style of the 1990’s
to create a deliciously ostentatious kaleidoscope of colour, pattern, and design. Through his
deliberate choice to depict this time period as the story’s backdrop, Dolan emboldens Laurence
to define her womanhood through fearless fashion choices.

Dolan likes his sets how he likes his costumes; raw, gaudy, and wreaking of symbolism.
His films always contain sets ranging from the most ornate and lavish, to the most modest and
expressionist. In ​Laurence Anyways​, the titular character meets a flamboyant group of
performers who are all seated on animal print divans in a black and white checker floored
church, decked out with sequin curtains, gold candles and statues, lamps, and ferns. The camera
sits directly in front of the set and the actors sit within it as if poised to take a photograph. Again,
Dolan designs the scene and the take around the idea of performance; drawing inspiration from
fashion magazines, he builds a world designed for the characters, by the characters. This scene is
vital to Laurence’s growth; she witnesses the luxurious lifestyles of a group of queer people who
are proud of who they are (her very own “It Gets Better” campaign). Dolan also tends to shoot
actors through doorways and hallways, framing them in their living spaces. He walks the line
between contrived and organic by presenting shots to a presumed audience, exaggerating their
own artifice, yet within the (filmic and diegetic) frames are raw and emotional characters who
are real and authentic. There is elegance and pride in an artificial thing.

An actor himself, Dolan has a passion for acting as an art form and obsesses over each
actor’s movement, expression, and relationship to the scene’s environment. Dolan often places
characters symmetrically in the frame, balancing each other, indicating a closeness and
co-dependence. In ​J’ai Tué Ma Mère,​ Hubert sits on his French teacher’s couch, the frame
clearly set up to include a second person, and thus the image appears off kilter until she finally
sits down next to him, completing the tableau. Dolan implies Hubert’s dependence on Julie
Cloutier, who has become not only his French teacher, but a maternal figure as well. His films
also include a variety of moments when the scene’s blocking is symbolic of the events occurring
in the larger plot. In ​J’ai Tué Ma Mère,​ Hubert is attacked and beaten at his boarding school
under suspicions that he is gay. In the following shot, the camera directly faces the double doors
of the school, with steps leading up to it. As if entering his own prison, Hubert walks directly up
the steps past five students standing guard, one of whom inspects him before letting him pass.
Hubert is a prisoner, literally and figuratively, forced into boarding school and shamed for his
sexuality.

Dolan also employs lighting to evoke meaning. He dramatically modifies the brightness,
colour, and source of the light in a scene to portray a characters’ mood or circumstance. In ​Les
Amours Imaginaires​ Dolan displays Marie sitting in bed with her boyfriend, the only light in the
room is a deep saturated red. Later, Dolan displays a similar scene with Francis in Marie’s place
with a boy of his own, rich green colour replacing the red. Applying the same stylistic elements
to both scenes ties them together in a way that Dolan implies is because they are both in love
with the same person, and yet the drastic colour difference set the two characters at odds with
each other. Dolan carries out his belief that no formal action is taken without substantiation.
Dolan will also implement a single light source hanging from above the character(s) to facilitate
a symbolic connection with the character’s external environment and their internal
circumstances. In ​J’ai Tué Ma Mère​, Hubert sits across from his boyfriend and the latter’s
mother, the only light coming from the chandelier above their heads. Hubert had run away from
home and is now alienated by a once familiar environment, now cast in a newly unsettling
context, the background in darkness illustrating his uncertainty. Dolan also favours the
single-source light because it follows his performative theme; the characters appear to be in a
spotlight, often looking forward as if an audience sits behind the camera. Dolan employs each
technical element in his films’ mise en sc​è​ne with consideration so each may make a unique and
powerful impact on his oeuvre.

Although Dolan did not edit ​J’ai Tué Ma Mère​,​ ​its editing style matches the style of each
of his succeeding films, all of which he did edit. Not unexpectedly, Dolan manipulates his
footage in many ways to privilege or restrict the audience’s point of view. Abundant in his films
is the use of fast and slow motion. In ​Les Amours Imaginaires​, Marie and Francis respectively
prepare for a group date with Nicolas, an activity clearly ritualistic and important for both of
them. Dolan cross edits both characters’ scenes into one slow motion sequence paired with a
dramatic Italian cover of “Bang Bang”. As a result, both characters are exponentially more
dramatic and elegant because every movement appears graceful and coordinated. Dolan also
implies the creative control these characters have over their environment; they appear to have
directed the moment themselves (Heron), relishing every moment of their performance. This
concept relates heavily to other editing elements at play in Dolan’s films. He blurs the line
between fact and fantasy, employing tableau, visual surrealism, and montage. In ​J’ai Tué Ma
Mère​, a scene depicting Hubert and his mother arguing smash cuts to a still frame of his mother
lying dead in a coffin, then quickly cuts back to her face, alive and well. Dolan allows the
audience a brief understanding into Hubert’s mind as he momentarily wishes his mother dead. In
Laurence Anyways​, Fred and Laurence are conversing across a table when in a moment of Fred's
internal deliberation, the camera cuts to a close up of Laurence’s face as a butterfly emerges
from his mouth and flies away. Fred blinks the hallucination away but the audience is left with a
better understanding of her. Fred sees the person Laurence is becoming, a butterfly about to
emerge. Another scintillating moment from the film is a long shot of Laurence and Fred walking
down a snowy street as vibrant clothes of all sorts flutter down from the sky. In this scene, Dolan
employs slow motion and surrealism to create a visual illustration of the characters’ emotional
experience. The characters (and the film itself through these moments of stylistic surrealism) are
celebrating the freedom and beauty of femininity. Most famously, Dolan embellishes his films
with visually stunning montages that range from realistic with visual enhancements to the
characters’ deepest, most grandiose fantasies. Dolan began writing the script for ​Mommy​ when
he heard a piece called “Experience” by Ludovico Einaudi. The song is featured in the
breathtaking montage from the film where Die, Kyla, and Steve stop at the beach together on
their way to what Steve believes is a weekend getaway, but is actually his mother’s furtive plan
to admit her son to an inpatient psychiatric hospital. As Steve and Kyla play, Die silently
reflects; the scene cuts to a series of shots blurring and sharpening into focus: Steve posing his
graduation photo, Die, Kyla, and Steve celebrating with a young girl who appears to be Steve’s
girlfriend, Steve gleefully raising a letter to Kyla from the street in the pouring rain… Steve is
suddenly played by an older actor, indicating the passage of time, Die holding an infant, Steve
and his bride cutting their wedding cake, Die celebrating among the guests. The images get
blurrier until only shapes are visible, the music swells and wanes as the shot rests on a close up
of Die, in focus but blurring gradually. The scene cuts back to the car as they approach the
hospital. This montage represents all the hopes and aspirations Die has for her son and then the
bitter heartbreak after realising they may never come true. Dolan takes the viewer on a wild and
seemingly real journey that ultimately rips the figurative rug out from under us; the audience
now jarred toward a deeper empathy for Die. Xavier Dolan needs his characters to be understood
and he relishes the opportunity to turn their minds into beautiful exhibits.

After having employed widescreen twice, Dolan shot ​Laurence Anyways​ in a 4:3 frame, a
style more similar to a photograph and thus giving rise to a tendency to capture moments like
photos in this and future films. Contrary to popular belief, Dolan’s film aesthetic inspiration
mostly comes from still photography, Nan Golden being his favourite. Inspired by photography,
symmetrically framed shots flood Dolan’s films, invoking a sense of balance and perfection. In
Laurence Anyways​, Fred, dressed in a long elegantly eccentric coat, floats through the audience,
parting them like the Red Sea, frozen and poised like a statue. Dolan also plays with the
malleability of frame dimension to evoke meaning. The aforementioned montage scene from
Mommy​ shows a dramatic departure from the 1:1 frame (the dominating ratio for the majority of
the film) to widescreen, then snapping back apathetically to the 1:1 frame when she is pulled
back to reality. For a fleeting moment, The hopes and dreams Die has for her son are big enough
to burst her insular world, and the 1:1 frame that portrays her. In ​Tom à la Ferme,​ Tom is chased
through a cornfield and then beaten by Francis. The larger man traps Tom under his body and
whispers threats in his ear as the already widescreen frame becomes thrice as wide. This reads as
Tom’s suffocation under Francis' abuse and his overwhelming anxiety and fear about the futility
of escape.
 Although Dolan is not the acting director of photography for his films, the
cinematography is replete with authorial intent. Every camera angle, movement, and cut have an
acute purpose as part of the film’s story and form. Dolan includes shots of the backs of
characters heads, alluding to the lack of access or understanding the audience has with the
characters. Contrarily, he employs the same technique to depict the environment and the
characters’ place in it, the audience gaining more empathy toward the characters as we “[see]
what they see” (Heron). In ​Laurence Anyways, ​Laurence fearlessly steps into her work one day
as the woman she is. Met with respect and understanding, Laurence struts down the hallway, the
camera shooting nothing but her heeled feet from behind. The audience is pulled forward in a
feeling of idolatry. As well as symmetrical framing, Dolan tends to employ excess space above
characters’ heads to indicate a degree of crisis. In ​J’ai Tué Ma Mère H ​ ubert is often shot near the
bottom of the frame, as if he lacks significance or power. In ​Laurence Anyways​, Fred sits on a
couch, the wall behind her taking up most of the frame, as she opens a package containing
Laurence’s novel. She is overwhelmed and daunted by the possibilities. Shooting his characters’
faces close up magnifies their emotions for the audience or dramatizes their reactions, while an
extra high camera angle, domineering over the character who is looking down or straight ahead,
evokes private contemplation or a grappling to comprehend. Fred is shot from such an angle in
the scene succeeding her discovering Laurence’s true identity. Just as she has not yet come to
terms with the information she has been given, the camera angle floats above her, casting a
perspective but not capturing a full understanding. Dolan also employs tracking shots as “the
audience is both ushered into these spaces by the moving camera as well as repelled by it”
(Heron). In ​Laurence Anyways​, the camera tracks forward toward the kitchen table and finally
rests on a close up of a photograph of an island. Because the audience does not yet understand
the importance or context of the island, focusing dramatically on the image piques the audience’s
interest and plants a clue for later discovery. In all of Dolan’s films, the cinematography is itself
an omnipotent character, giving rise to its own independent and unique meaning.

Xavier Dolan’s films exude the auteur’s complex connection with personal style and
formal technique. Each of his subsequent films builds on Dolan's desire for work that speak to
beauty and perfection in their style and form. His ability to capture meaning in his writing,
directing, editing, costume designing and/or acting in almost all of his films allow him to build a
breadth of work that displays his evolving authorial vision. With such commitment and passion,
one can see not only pieces of Dolan’s style in each of his films but pieces of his soul as well.
 Work Cited
J'ai Tué Ma Mère.​ Dir. Xavier Dolan. Perf. Xavier Dolan, Anne Dorval. K Films Amerique,
2009. iTunes.
Les Amours Imaginaires​. Dir. Xavier Dolan. Perf. Xavier Dolan, Niels Schneider. Alliance
Atlantis Vivafilm, 2010. iTunes.
Laurence Anyways.​ Dir. Xavier Dolan. Perf. Melvil Poupaud, Suzanne Clément. Lyla Films,
2012. iTunes.
Tom A La Ferme​. Dir. Xavier Dolan. Perf. Xavier Dolan. Entertainment One, 2013. iTunes.
Mommy.​ Dir. Xavier Dolan. Perf. Anne Dorval, Suzanne Clément. Metafilms, 2014. iTunes.
"George Tonight: Xavier Dolan." ​YouTube.​ CBC, 28 Feb. 2013. Web. 12 Mar. 2016.
Heron, Christopher. "Xavier Dolan Video Essay | TIFF 2015." ​YouTube.​ TIFF, 5 Jan. 2015.
Web. 9 Mar. 2016.
"Louis Vuitton Presents Xavier Dolan: Spring-Summer 2016 Interview." ​YouTube.​ Louis
Vuitton, 2 Feb. 2016. Web. 10 Mar. 2016.
"Xavier Dolan et Anne Dorval "Mommy" ​YouTube​. On N'est Pas Couché, 6 Oct. 2014. Web. 12
Mar. 2016.