BIOGRAPHY OF XAVIER DOLAN. Considered a young prodigy of the seventh art, the director of the acclaimed “Mommy” or “Just the end of the world” has announced his retirement from cinema.
A promising career is coming to an end. Xavier Dolan announced to stop the cinema. The 34-year-old director explained in an interview with the Spanish newspaper El País that he did not see the point of continuing his film career: “I no longer have the desire or the strength to devote two years to a project that is barely seen. I put too much passion in my projects to cash in so many disappointments. I end up wondering if my cinema is bad and I know it’s not.”
The filmmaker to whom we owe Mommy, Just the end of the world or Laurence Anyways does not speak much about his near future, and especially if this judgment concerns only his career as a director or also his career as an actor. “I don’t see the point of telling stories when everything is collapsing around us. Art is useless and devoting oneself to cinema is a waste of time”. We hope, however, that this early retirement is only a break to come back better.
Short biography of Xavier Dolan – Born March 20, 1989 in Montreal (Canada), Xavier Dolan-Tadros is the son of Quebec comedian and singer Manuel Tadros. From the age of six, he appeared in several commercials, notably for Jean-Coutu pharmacies. He landed small roles in films like “I’m in!” (1997), “The Hanging Fortress” (2001), and is filming for television. In 2006, the role of Julien, in the short film “Miroirs d’été”, brought him notoriety.
In 2007, he turns in the film “Martyrs”. The following year, he embarked on directing with “I killed my mother”, which will be selected for the 41st Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes in 2009. In 2009, he shot his second feature, “Les Amours imaginaires”. The film was part of the Un certain regard selection at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. In 2011, Xavier Dolan shot “Laurence Anyways”, his third feature film devoted to a transgender woman. The film earned him a new selection in the Un Certain Regard section and the award for Best Canadian Film at the Toronto International Film Festival. In 2013, he directed the clip for “College Boy”, by the Indochine group. In 2014, Xavier Dolan released his fourth feature film, “Tom on the Farm” adapted from a play by Michel Marc Bouchard. The film received the FIPRESCI Critics’ Prize at the 70th Venice Film Festival.
The consecration truly arrives with his fifth feature film, Mommyselected in official competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 2014. He notably won the Jury Prize tied with theFarewell to language by Jean-Luc Godard. Subsequently, the filmmaker released his first French film, Just the end of the world, in 2016, with Marion Cotillard and Gaspard Ulliel in particular. His first film in English language, The Death and Life of John F. Donovan was released four years later and experienced several production difficulties. He then resumed his acting career, in Boy Erased And It: Chapter 2 in 2019, then lost illusions in 2019, which earned him a César nomination for Best Supporting Actor. His eighth film, Matthias and Maxime, exits in parallel. Three years later, he broadcast his first series, The night Laurier Gaudreault woke up.