My Review of I Killed My Mother aka J'ai tué ma mère (2009)

 

Written And Directed by Xavier Dolan

Hubert: "What would you do if I died today?"

Chantale: "I'd die tomorrow."

Well, this one's been on my list for a while now and given that it's been seventeen years since it's released, I finally got around to seeing it. I can see why this has developed the following it's gotten.

Our protagonist was a man named Hubert Minel (Xavier Dolan). Hubert had something of a frustrating relationship with his mother, Chantale Lemming (Anne Dorval). Hubert for the most part loves his mother but also hated being her son. There's something believable in that sort of family dynamic. 

I think on Hubert's case, it's probably not helped by the fact that both him and his mother seem to clash a bit too easily and that the latter had a tendency to publicly embarrass Hubert as well. In fact, it's down to this that Hubert told his teacher, Julie Cloutier (Suzanne Clément) that his mother was dead. 

On top of that obvious lie that Julie quickly debunked, Hubert actually wrote an essay about Chantale being dead. It turned out that Hubert craved his family home as a child and that was where he ended up by the end of this movie. There's even a nice scene where it seemed like Hubert and Chantale came to some sort of truce with one another.

Another big part of this movie was Hubert's relationship with his boyfriend, Antonin (François Arnaud). The latter by contrast had a much healthier relationship with his own mother, Hélène Rimbaud (Patricia Tulasne) and even pointed out Hubert's selfishness in a way that actually made Hubert take note.

There's some legitimately strong chemistry between Xavier Dolan and François Arnaud with Antonin doing a lot to temper some of Hubert's worse qualities. That didn't stop Hubert from cheating on Antonin with Éric (Niels Schneider) in a minor subplot. Saying that, I'm glad both Hubert and Antonin were together by the end of the film.

- We did briefly meet Hubert's father, Richard (Pierre Chagnon). Hubert lashed out at him.

- Xavier Dolan wrote the script when he was sixteen. Hubert was sixteen for most of the film.

- Standout music: André Hébert's Des roses rouges pour toi maman.

- Chronology: During Hubert's teenage years in suburban Montreal. There's black and white scenes to an older version.

For a first time look into Xavier Dolan's filmography, it's not hard to see why I Killed My Mother (2009) would be held in such high regard. It's an impressive debut with strong central performances and a complex look at a mother/son relationship. I really liked this one.

Rating: 8 out of 10