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Before anything else can be said
in review of Lilies, I insist that you
go see it and promise you won’t
regret it.
A plot synopsis, aside from being a disservice
to someone planning to see it, would fail to
convey the film’s finer aspects: the breathtaking
beauty of the images laid upon the voluptuous
intricacies of the script and upheld by the pro
found performances of the actors.
menici
The only other way to convince you to see it—
if my enthusiastic but humble opinion hasn’t
done so— is to describe who and what makes
Lilies a cinematic masterpiece that is sure to
further add to its list of awards. (And maybe you
can glean a few juicy hints along the way.)
Lilies is directed by John Greyson, teacher,
writer and homo, who also directed Zero Pa
tience, a 1994 musical satire about the scapegoats
of the AIDS epidemic. Greyson has published
several books and normally writes what he di
rects.
“The most subversive thing about Lilies," he
says, “is its refusal to be sacrilegious. It was never
meant to be sacrilegious. It is romantic. It’s a film
for anyone who has ever been young and in love.”
Screenwriter Michel Marc Bouchard has
achieved star status in his native Quebec and
around the world, with numerous critically ac
claimed plays to his credit. Reflecting on his first
experience scripting a film, he says, “A play
wright is much freer than a screenwriter. Theater
is poor, so the writing is rich. Everything can be
described verbally, and writing relies on what is
evoked. But cinema is illustration. So, as a much
richer medium, the writer becomes more humble
and modest.”
For a U.S. audience, the most recognizable
actor—but by no means the only one worth men
tioning— is Brent Carver, who earned a Tony
Award for his part in Kiss o f the Spider Woman.
In Lilies, Carver plays a prisoner and the Count
ess de Tilly.
It can be disturbing to see female character
played by men, but in this case— and in the
context of the film— it is both situationally neces
sary and thematically relevant. All of the parts in
Lilies are played by men, and no special care was
given to hiding that fact. Makeup is at a mini
mum, and the costume designers made bosomless
dresses for certain of the characters. The signifi
cance of such details are indicative of the
production’s artistic integrity and what the film
successfully brings from the stage to the screen:
the thoughtfulness and skillful acting that is often
absent from Hollywood’s titillating and superfi
cially entertaining fare.
The film packs a lot of punch. It has an
intensely literary quality and beautiful imagery,
These moments, which could not be accom
plished live on stage, are some of the most thrill
ing and visually compelling moments of the film.
One cannot help but gasp as the ceiling is lifted off
the prison chapel confessional to expose the dim,
dark-wood interior to the blazing, cloudless sky
of Roberval while a red-and-gold hot-air balloon
floats majestically overhead.
The play’s concept, however, remains central
to the film: Lilies contains countless other plays-
within-a-play, some theatrical and some delu
sional, that fuel the development of characters and
plot. There is the fantasy world of the tragically
disappointed Countess, who says to her son while
lying in a self-made grave, “Don’t spoil my legacy,
play the part.” There is the witty repartee of Lydie-
Anne, who speaks lies but is brutally, beautifully
perceptive—with something of modern-day drag-
queen sass—who says
upon losing her young The film
lover, “Go ahead, Simon, packs a lot of
play your part.”
punch. It has
There is Father St.
M ichel’s daring boys’ an intensely
school production of the literary qual
m artyrdom
of
St.
Sebastian, which be ity and beau
comes conflated with the tiful imagery
actual love affair of its
two stars, and there is the combining an
play staged by the prison emotionally
ers so that Simon can
transform his confession powerful plot
into an act of revenge.
with potent
This notion of play is D e r fo r m a n c e s
a large part of the film's
literary quality of daring juxtapositions and po
tent interactions, viewed from the multiple per
spectives provided by the multiple plays, and the
tension that arises from these devices.
Much of what makes Lilies beautiful is not
pleasing to everyone, though. Sure, there are
some really fine-looking young actors and bit of
well-placed nudity, but the depth of the film can
be intimidating and— for audiences used to ex
plosions and celebrities— a bit of a turn-off.
However, a moving plea for the more refined
aspects of cinema as an art form is offered by one
of the film’s characters. Upon the cancellation of
his radically romantic revision of the story of the
death of St. Sebastian, a turning point in the lives
of other characters as well, Father St. Michel
mourns the lack of appreciation given his artistic
endeavor: “The repudiation of the rational, the
intoxication of the divine, the revolution of the
sacred, release from the constraints of the
scripture...they don’t understand.”
It is a mistake not to give Lilies consideration
as more than entertainment.
,
Danny Gilmore (left) and Jason Cadieux enact the martyrdom o f St. Sebastian, one o f the film ’s many
plays- within -a -play
C eci n ’ est P as
un
F ilm
Even on the big screen , the play’s the thing
in the tragic , romantic drama Lilies
by
Christopher D. Cuttone
combining an emotionally powerful plot with
potent performances. Bouchard himself trans
formed his script into a screenplay and took
advantage of the new medium to add to the play’s
evocative moments.
The action takes place in two time periods and
two locations simultaneously: 1912 in the fash
ionable vacation village of Roberval in northern
Quebec, and 1952 in a Canadian federal prison.
When describing the movements between these
two settings, one is tempted to use the word
“seamless,” which one would have difficulty us
ing to describe a stage production.
It is impossible not to notice the change. The
prison, not surprisingly, is drab and colorless,
while Roberval is all light and color and Karma
Chameleon-esque. Still the transition is always
fluid, though it may be abrupt or incomplete, with
the temporal incursion of a character in one time
being startled by a loud noise from the future or
two old men attending a dinner party alongside
their younger selves.
Lilies plays Dec. 5-11 at Cinema 21,
616 NW 21st Ave. Shows are at 7, 8:55 and
10:35 pm nightly, with weekend matinées at
1, 3 and 5 pm. Tickets are $5.50 general.
For more information, call 223-4515.
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