Matthias & Maxime

2019 [FRENCH]

Action / Drama / Romance

22
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 77% · 76 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 77% · 100 ratings
IMDb Rating 6.8/10 10 10087 10.1K

friendship quebec lgbt gay interest gay love gay romance

Plot summary

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.

Director

Xavier Dolan Photo
Xavier Dolan

Top cast

Dakota Jamal Wellman Photo
Dakota Jamal Wellman as Avocat dans l'ascenseur
Pier-Luc Funk Photo
Pier-Luc Funk as Rivette
Harris Dickinson Photo
Harris Dickinson as McAfee
Anne-Marie Cadieux Photo
Anne-Marie Cadieux as Martine
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
1.08 GB
1280*682
French 2.0
NR
Subtitles us   fr  
23.976 fps
2 hr 0 min
Seeds 7
2.22 GB
1920*1024
French 5.1
NR
Subtitles us   fr  
23.976 fps
2 hr 0 min
Seeds 26

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by wsprovaprova 8 / 10

New technique, a little bit monotone

Overall I liked this film. I have never seen the film technique before that Xavier uses twice, for example during the party, where there is no obvious script, it seems ad-libbed. It gives the feeling of a party.It's a love story, with of course, the difference of it being a gay love story. It illustrates the difficulty of falling in love and coming out of the closet at the same time.Of course you can only do so much in two hours, but I felt that the mood of the film, especially that of Matthias, was a bit monotone, although his character was nicely filled out.The other actors were all good. The photography was beautiful.
Reviewed by danybur 5 / 10

A narrative that does not help its protagonists

Matthias and Maxime have been friends since childhood. The first (Gabriel D'Almeida Freitas) is a handsome lawyer with an upward career and in a relationship with a woman, while the second (Xavier Dolan), lives with his recovering addicted mother (Anne Dorval) and is preparing a trip to spend at least two years in Australia. As a result of a bet, both must participate in a short film in which they kiss, a situation that will trigger questions in both.Xavier Dolan addresses several issues in this film: the possibility of two men coming out of the closet after a relationship of years, the end of youth, the divergent paths that can separate two people, the relationship with their mothers (own and others) and affiliate responsibilities.The process between the two protagonists is partly reminiscent of the films by Argentine Marco Berger, with arguments consisting of waiting for both to consume a sexual encounter after accumulating erotic tension throughout the film, only that the accumulation of tension (sexual and affective) is almost absent in Dolan's film, a process to which his ellipsis and the approach of the protagonists contribute.The goodbye to youth is given by the noisy and festive scenes with his group of friends from different social backgrounds, in scenes that are too long that in general do not contribute to the dramatic development and provide some moment of somewhat faded humor.The (always) conflictive relationship with the mother is a topic in Dolan's films: it also appears in I killed my mother and in Mommy and, in all three cases, with Anne Dorval in that role.Unfortunately, in addition, all these planes do not finish combining and enhancing each other and some even become annoying from time to time due to their dispersion. Of course, the movie is well shot, with some slick images, some editing details, and an interesting soundtrack.Matthias and Maxime is another example that shows that Dolan works better and achieves more powerful and effective stories when he operates the playful, as The Imaginary Loves and perhaps the best of his films, Tom at the Farm have shown.
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