Matthias and Maxime (2019)

Directed by: Xavier Dolan | 119 minutes | drama | Actors: Gabriel D’Almeida Freitas, Xavier Dolan, Anne Dorval, Marilyn Castonguay, Harris Dickinson, Catherine Brunet, Pier-Luc Funk, Camille Felton, Alexandre Bourgeois, Connor McMahon, Antoine Pilon, Anne-Marie Cadieux, Louise Bombardier, Samuel Gauthier , Monique Spazianic

The premise of ‘Matthias et Maxime’ is promising: two childhood friends in the final stages of young adulthood, one on the way to social status as a lawyer and husband, the other on the run from the future. Matthias (D’Almeida Freitas) is confident and handsome, Max (Dolan) has a port-wine stain and an unstable family home. Mutual love usually is—that kind of friendship, until adulthood do us part.

The action accelerates when Dolan (‘J’ai tué ma mère’) confronts us with Erika, the younger sister of Matthias (Felton). She is making a movie and has a friend of her brother in mind for a movie kiss. Good-natured Max sacrifices himself. And apres? Canadian French remains a gibberish, a bit like Swiss German. We’re not really impressed with the acting either, with the exception of D’Almeida Freitas.

The kiss turns out to be the reason for a second attempt by Erika: a kiss between the two friends has to be ‘acted’. You get the idea, the action in question is in quotes. And is also a bit of a spoiler, but this is where the movie starts to get depth. The kiss casts doubt on everything, especially with Matthias, the man with the perfect picture. The scenes with D’Almeida Freitas are the most impressive; every now and then the film gets bogged down in sub-scenes.

Anyone who knows Dolan’s language will find a pleasantly eccentric biotope, where Matthias is suddenly the anomaly. The film has already been on the road for an hour, the settlement of the love drama continues to be intriguing. What does Max feel? Will it be a coming out drama or a regular rom-com? And does this development offer new perspectives on romantic love? We won’t reveal it. Dolan keeps it with an open ending with a lot of exciting music, and that is also a statement.