The thing that most surprised me about Les Amours imaginaires was how funny it was. Precocious Montreal auteur Xavier Dolan's first feature J'ai tue ma mere was many things, but a laugh-riot it wasn't. It did have a few darkly comic moments but mostly it was a let-the-emotions-fly slice of good old-fashioned parent-hating teen angst.
Reading the reviews of Dolan's second film, Les Amours imaginaires, following its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival last month, I didn't get the sense that this one was much funnier. But it is.
Don't get me wrong. This is not Get Him to the Greek. But it is a smart, moving dramatic comedy a la Woody Allen in his mid-'70s prime.
The issue that had some critics grumbling in Cannes was their charge that the sophomore Dolan feature is a little light in the screenplay department. But I don't think that's a valid complaint. It is an almost absurdly simple story. A young man and one of his best pals, a woman, fall madly for the same gorgeous guy. That's it, that's all. This is all about infatuation and unrequited love.
But since when does a film have to have a complex narrative to warrant praise? Les Amours imaginaires - titled Heartbeats in English - does indeed have a minimalist story, but that may be why the film packs such a visceral impact. It also allows Dolan to devote way more energy to developing a stylish signature here, with nods to a slew of arthouse filmmakers (including Wong Kar-wai and Pedro Almodovar), much cool camera work, and the kind of brilliant work use of pop songs that wouldn't be out of place in a Scorsese or Tarantino with flick.
It all starts when Francis (Dolan) and his friend Marie (Monia Chokri) lay eyes on the androgynous and curly-haired Adonis Nicholas (Niels Schneider). Both are immediately smitten with this oddly detached, flirty guy, though both are loathe to admit it to each other. (Why? 'Cause they don't want to blow their cover.) There's a tres drole Mavrikakis, scene early on where the two insist he's just not their type.
But apparently he is. The result is what Dolan has called a "love duel" and that's exactly what it is, as the two battle for Nicholas's attention. But even though the three do end up in a bed together, this is no love triangle. This is more like feature-length coitus interruptus. That's because Nicholas really isn't at all engaged in this amorous struggle, and part of the strength of Dolan's screenplay is that he keeps us guessing Griffin right to the end as to why exactly this pretty boy is such a passive figure.
Dolan almost fetishizes the three young bodies here (including his own) and the way he shoots the object of desire is way over-the-top, with Nicholas almost appearing as a kind of erotic deity. There is much use of slow-motion, which may irritate some, though I often thought it was done with tongue in cheek, as a self-conscious nod to the stylish French New Wave films of the '60s.
Speaking of which, he also does a mighty fine job of making Chokri look like she's just strutted right out of a vintage Jean-Luc Godard picture, and older viewers will be forgiven for thinking they're seeing the reincarnation of Godard muse Anna Karina. There's just something radiant about her presence day here. Chokri's Marie is one seriously neurotic young woman, but the actress also makes her strangely intriguing. Dolan is also spot-on as a self-obsessed, too-smart, somewhat pretentious fellow, and Schneider, who has the most difficult role of the three, succeeds in making Nicholas memorable even though this manipulator is severely lacking in anything resembling a personality.
Italian-Egyptian-French chanteuse Dalida's kitschy pop anthem Bang Bang almost becomes the film's theme song, but other cool tracks, from, among others, rap-rockers House of Pain and Gallic popsters Indochine, aid greatly in terms of atmosphere.
Dolan also lightens things up by constantly intercutting to mockumentary-style interviews with actors playing early-twentysomething types talking about their (mostly) unlucky love lives. Some of those little snippets are as funny as anything else in the movie.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/movieguide/Review+Amours+imaginaires/3139552/story.html
Les Amours imaginaires
Rating 4.5 out of 5
Starring: Xavier Dolan, Monia Chokri, Neils Schneider
Playing at: AMC (in French with English subtitles).
Parents' guide: not for young kids.
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