By Robert Goldrich

Canada’s entry this year for Best Foreign Film Oscar consideration is Mommy, winner of a Grand Jury Prize at Cannes this past May and recipient of critical acclaim at the Telluride and Toronto Film Festivals.

Mommy is the fifth film for director Xavier Dolan who is a veteran of the festival circuit at the ripe age of 25. He additionally wrote, produced and edited Mommy, which stars Anne Dorval as a feisty, widowed single mom who takes full-time custody of her unpredictable, prone to violence, 15-year-old ADHD son (portrayed by Antoine Olivier Pilon). As they struggle to make ends meet, a new neighbor across the street (Suzanne Clement) offers her help. Together they find a new sense of hope but that doesn’t necessarily translate into your typical Hollywood ending.

Dolan decided to fit his actor performance-driven story into a perfect square, literally. He adopted a 1:1 aspect ratio for Mommy which was lensed by DP Andre Turpin.

Mommy is scheduled for release by Roadside Attractions in late January.

SHOOT: What does the selection of Mommy as Canada’s entry in Oscar’s Best Foreign Language Film competition mean to you personally and professionally?

Dolan: I’m proud to represent my country and Quebec. It’s a tremendous feeling to be Canada’s representative–becoming part of a group of filmmakers over the years whose work I have admired. This is a great honor.

SHOOT: Why did you go with a 1:1 aspect ratio for Mommy?

Dolan: The very simple answer to a very legitimate question is I wanted the audience to be as close to the characters as possible, to avoid the distractions in the left or right of the frame. The audience can just be with the characters and this–though I hesitate to use the word–”forces” viewers to solely focus on the emotions being experienced by the characters.

I worked earlier with [cinematographer] Andre Turpin on a music video for “College Boy” [a single from rock band Indochine] that we shot in the 1:1 ratio. When I saw all the closeups, I felt they were stirring and emotionally strong. They weren’t ‘Instagram-ish.’ They appeared very authentic. I thought it was the way to go for a character-driven story and I let Andre know we would be shooting Mommy 1:1. He was completely on board.

I first worked with Andre on my feature Tom at the Farm [winner of the FIPRESCI Prize Competition at the 2013 Venice Film Festival and nominated for a Golden Lion]. We connected on that film and bonded. Andre is a director himself and brings a lot to a project. He has become a close friend.

SHOOT: Was adapting to the 1:1 aspect ratio for a feature film the biggest creative challenge you encountered in Mommy?

Dolan: It had its hardships but in the end it worked out well. As I look back, we struggled with the 1:1 aspect ratio during the first week. Then we discovered it was just about embracing 1:1 and not fighting against it, trying to do things you can’t do. That only distorts the nature and virtues of 1:1 and makes it seem gimmicky.

It’s a portrait format that works best for focusing on the characters. It’s also good for large shots. We sort of abandoned those middle range shots and decided it would be a movie with very few threeshots. We went with very large shots and closeups. Somehow that made the threeshots of the characters when we did them seem more important and valuable–a rare shot of seeing these three characters together. The brunch and dancing scenes with all three in the picture stand out, making their togetherness seem even more remarkable.

SHOOT: What cameras did you and Andre deploy on Mommy?

Dolan: ARRICAM LT and ARRI 235s. We shot on 35mm film.

SHOOT: You’ve served as editor on your films. Did Mommy pose any particular challenges to you as an editor?

Dolan: Journalists rarely speak about the editing. It’s like if they don’t speak about it, that’s a good sign. But generally editors are given no credit–even though what they do is make everything work. In the editing suite you’re alone and breaking down all the mistakes you made. “Congratulations idiot, you made 179 mistakes and you have to fix them all now.”

Editing in a way is more challenging than filming. As a director, I am thinking of editing constantly. Mommy didn’t pose any special problems. When she drops off her son at the hospital, we edited it several ways–all extremely different from one another–until we found the right one. It’s a process, doing the most justice you can to the actors’ performances.

 

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