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Lillies
For those who like brains with their beefcake
1996
Review: May 12, 2006
Director: John Greyson
Starring: Marcel Sabourin, Aubert Pallacio, Jason Cadieux, Danny Gilmore, Matthew Ferguson, Alexander Chapman
Yes! Though be warned, it would be confusing to follow anytime…
THE SETUP:
Convicts force a bishop to watch a play in order to exact revenge for an old injustice.
DISCUSSION:
Someone recently wrote me, saying “Dude, if you like homo movies…” and suggesting this one and The Hanging Garden. They sounded good, and I was in the mood for a serious homo movie, so this one went to the top of my list.
In Quebec 1952, a Bishop is called to a prison to hear a final confession. Once inside the confessional, he sees that he knows the prisoner in the box with him. Then the door is locked, and a small hole opened in the box before him; he is going to be forced to watch this play that enacts the events which he participated in 40 years before. Events that led to the prisoner being sent to prison in the first place.
It would seem that this pretty boy Simon [pronounced Simone] is having an affair with this other pretty boy, Vallier [lovers of pretty boys will find much to occupy their eyes during this film]. Simon will turn out to be the prisoner later in life. The young lovers are often getting in trouble with the puritanical Bilodeau, who turns out to be the Bishop later in life. He tells Simon’s father, who beats the shit out of him, forcing Simon to give up his lover and attempt to take to women.
By this time in the film one can’t help but notice the 75 layers of framing the story is being told through. The Bishop watches play through a small window, while of course we are watching the whole thing through our screen. Then the movie reality and the reality of the play start to blur.
So obviously we have about 50 layers of framing. We are watching this movie about a man watching a play, and very often the movie breaks INTO the reality of the play. Not only that, but since the prisoners are all men, all of the women are played by men. This gets a little confusing upon first viewing, as one is trying to hard to orient oneself, and it’s hard to tell who’s who, not to mention what is just the cultural differences of life in 1930’s Quebec, and what is because certain characters are a little nuts. One of my favorite ‘reality-breaks-into-memory’ moments is when this rickety model hot-air balloon squeaks along on this string until it hits the front of the confessional, then the roof of the confessional is ripped off, revealing a real sky with a real balloon floating overhead. It’s seamless and a real mindfuck.
Meanwhile in the story young Simon has an affair with Alexander Chapman as this Parisian woman who visits their new hotel, in order to give this whole ‘dating a woman’ thing a try. Chapman delivers a wonderfully committed performance as the Parisian woman; it is not an exaggerated drag performance, he IS a woman. The same can be said for all the men-as-women here. Anyway, young Bilodeau [the Bishop later on] has rather an obsession with Simon, which leads into the final, tragic events that find Simon in prison all those years later.
You know how people say that even the most clichéd story can be interesting if it’s told well? It’s not that this story is clichéd at all, but it is rather straightforward and not entirely surprising in the end. What sets this film apart [to me] is the fascinating way in which it tells this story. The many framing devices, the merging of film-reality into play-reality, and the dissociations of having the men play the women make this entire thing much more interesting than it would have been if it was a straightforward telling of the story.
It’s also just very refreshing to see a gay movie with more on its mind that “Gay is tragic” or “Gay is okay” or “Gay is tragic but okay.” Most gay movies are so desperate to find an audience that what one ends up with may be nice, but is rarely intellectually stimulating. This is an interesting, challenging film that really forces one to pay attention and think all the way through. Definitely worth checking out.
SHOULD YOU WATCH IT?
Yes, it’s interesting and moving, and will keep your brain working.
