"Best friends forever."
Two childhood best friends are asked to share a kiss for the purposes of a student short film. Soon, a lingering doubt sets in, confronting both men with their preferences, threatening the brotherhood of their social circle, and, eventually, changing their lives.
Gabriel D'Almeida Freitas
Matthias
Xavier Dolan
Maxime
Pier-Luc Funk
Rivette
Samuel Gauthier
Frank
Antoine Pilon
Brass
Adib Alkhalidey
Shariff
Micheline Bernard
Francine
Anne Dorval
Manon
Marilyn Castonguay
Sarah
Two childhood best friends are asked to share a kiss for the purposes of a student short film. Soon, a lingering doubt sets in, confronting both men with their preferences, threatening the brotherhood of their social circle, and, eventually, changing their lives.
It’s hard not to be swept up by ‘Matthias and Maxime’. This is a film made with such love and care, sincerity and grace, showcasing everything that makes Xavier Dolan such an arresting filmmaker and distilled into their purest form. What made my heart soar was in how it laid bare how complex human relationships are, how pointless such binaries as gender and sexuality are, how love between two people is greater than simply defined as friendship or romance. ‘Matthias and Maxime’ refuses to play into such simplistic categories, instead celebrating the wonder of love and human connection without the need for them. Maybe some viewers will try and pigeonhole the protagonists as “gay“ rather than just two people in love to make themselves feel more comfortable, much like the bi-erasure in many responses to ‘Call Me By Your Name’, so pointlessly obsessed are we with useless outdated labels, but that would be such a loss to their experience of the richness of this film. ‘Matthias and Maxime’ is a quiet triumph, a tender love story beautifully told, a reminder of how deep the rivers of love can go, how violent travelling them can be and how so very worth the journey is. - Daniel Lammin Read Daniel's full article... https://www.maketheswitch.com.au/article/review-matthias-and-maxime-a-magical-film-on-the-complexity-of-friendship-and-love
I was rather disappointed by this effort from Xavier Dolan. Perhaps writing/editting and starring in the film robbed him too much of objectivity when it came to actually watching this bit of a non-story. He portrays "Max", a young French-Canadian man who is about to emigrate to Australia. At a party with his childhood friends, he and handsome best pal Matt (Gabriel D'Almeida Freitas) get lumbered with starring in a video being made by one of their number's pesky younger sister. The scene involved the two of them kissing - something neither had done (as an adult) with a man before. What ensues is a slow, deliberately so, depiction of the complications that this kiss has on their relationship. "Matt" has a long term girlfriend, so his reconciliation with his "new" feelings for his friend take on a different guise from those of the single "Max" who has issues with his recovering addict mother. Sadly, though, too much of those repercussions are presumed on us by the director and not demonstrated to the audience. It doesn't need to be a cheesy traditional romance, nor a sex fest, but we are left to imagine or envisage that they want each other only because we know that's what the film is about - not because we are presented with much tangible, or even implied, sense of desire. Indeed the others in their group more readily flirt and banter than the two in the title. It doesn't have a beginning, middle and end - it just has a middle. A rather interestingly filmed and quite well put together middle, but a middle nonetheless. Certainly worth watching - I think Dolan has something about him - but I wanted more from the characters and the story - as it is I just felt like a rather unsatisfied observer.
As much as I like the work of Xavier Dolan, this film was very disappointing. It was predictable, dull, and just not showing anything new or creative. I look forward to his next fantastic film.
Patrick returns to San Francisco for the first time in almost a year to celebrate a momentous event with his old friends. In the process, he must face the unresolved relationships he left behind and make difficult choices about what’s important to him.
In the late 1990s, the arrival of elderly invalid Patrick into Marion and Tom’s home triggers the exploration of seismic events from 40 years previous: the passionate relationship between Tom and Patrick at a time when homosexuality was illegal.
Chloé, a fragile young woman, falls in love with her psychoanalyst, Paul. A few months later she moves in with him, but soon discovers that her lover is concealing a part of his identity.
After his lover rejects him, Maurice attempts to come to terms with his sexuality within the restrictiveness of Edwardian society.
Claude and Ellen are best friends who live in a not-so-nice area of New York. They're involved in the subculture of 90s youth, complete with drugs, live music, and homophobia. All is changed one night when a violent and meaningless death rocks their lives.
Shaw Landon has loved Rule Archer from the moment she laid eyes on him. Rule, a fiery-tempered rebel tattoo artist, doesn’t have time for a good girl pre-med student like Shaw — even if she’s the only one who can see the person he truly is. She lives by other people’s rules; he makes his own. But a short skirt, too many birthday cocktails, and spilled secrets lead to a night neither can forget. Now, Shaw and Rule must figure out how a girl like her and a guy like him are supposed to be together without destroying their love…or each other.
Henry Hart is a young gay artist living in New York City. When his grandfather has a stroke, Henry puts his career on hold and returns home to the small town of Big Eden, Montana, to care for him. While there, Henry hopes to strike up a romance with Dean Stewart, his high-school best friend for whom he still has feelings. But he's surprised when he finds that Pike, a quiet Native American who owns the local general store, may have a crush on him.
A tough, street-smart kid serving a sentence in a state youth reformatory meets a beautiful, innocent girl studying at a nearby convent. When forbidden love blossoms between them, they must fight the prison authorities, their parents and the law.
Fatima, 17, the youngest daughter of a French-Algerian family in a Paris suburb, leaves school for a prestigious prep class. She plays football, has a secret boyfriend, but hides that she loves women. In Paris, new freedoms clash with family tradition and faith, forcing her to find her own path.
Vivien, an accomplished student with a passion for physics, and Roy, a troubled young man, are involved in an accident that forces them to reclaim their lives one minute at the time.