I killed Xavier Dolan...

It happened not too far into the film - I Killed My Mother - when he referenced Truffaut's 400 Blows; possibly my favourite film. But Hubert is no Antoine Doinel. He's the Lady Gaga version - a cheap reference that doesn't do much but signal the fact that Dolan has seen Truffaut. A nod, a signal, a claim to credibility through association and reference. Perhaps it's one of his favourites too. But if so, surely his engagement would be more interesting than this. But it's as though Dolan said "That's a really cool film, and I'd like to reference it in my film, so maybe I'll take 3 or 4 of my favourite aspects and add them to my groundbreaking film about an angsty, queer teenager". Hence, this is Gaga film-making. It is 'littered' with references to other texts on mothers/sons, but does not engage with them in any substantial way. Superficial. Pretending to be smart from using quotes from 'smart books'. We all did that when we were teenagers I suppose. And I know intertextuality can create amazing new fictions - Almodovar's All About My Mother comes to mind - but it is not done here.

My friends liked it. But for me, this was a posing, overly self-conscious, film-school text. It expressed its self-consciousness not only through its littered (disconnected) referencing practices, but its pretentious framing and filming techniques. And really, who cares? Unlike Antoine, Hubert had no resonance. I forget him already. He yelled a lot. He screamed and moaned. He was angsty, but without texture. In short, he's dead. There were no moments where our eyes met and I said "Yes, I know this story". Antoine however, breathes. The collaboration of Truffaut's words, Antoine's character, Leaud's acting, and the characters encircling him, give a series of eruptions where Antoine and I fold into each other. This is not about directly relating to his situation - my situation is no more similar to Antoine's than it is to Hubert's - it's about connection to his struggles before me. I didn't care for Hubert and his situation. Perhaps I was also too aware that Hubert was acted by Dolan, so my hatred manifested in both of them, equally. Surely if I'd connected, I wouldn't have had time to think about the Dolan/Hubert dyad in the first place. But he robbed me of my time and patience. I contemplated walking out.

I know that for a first film made by an 18 year old that this is pretty spectacular. But I can't really care. As a text, for me, it fails. I can't like this, and I don't feel the need to make allowances. Of course, my reaction is fielded by my love of Antoine. It's kind of like a hipster band covering a David Bowie song - it just wouldn't work for me. It lacks respect, engagement, dialogue between (and through) texts. And yeah, I know I'm the old man at the back of the room grumbling about the lack of respect, the arrogance, the precociousness of Dolan and his ilk, but so be it.