At 34, Xavier Dolan wants to continue. Disappointed with the results of his recent artistic projects, the director reiterated his intention to end his film career in an interview with the newspaper El País.
It’s not the first time Xavier Dolan has questioned his future in cinema. As early as last November, he mentioned in the journal’s pages that he was seriously considering taking a break, exhausted by the enormous pressure – human and financial – he puts on himself with every new project.
The idea seems to have sprung since then, as Dolan is more adamant this time:
“I renounce cinema and directing,” he told the Spanish media in an interview published in recent days.
“I no longer have the desire or the strength to get involved in a project for two years and hardly see anyone. “I put too much passion into it to make it so much disappointment,” he added. In the end I wonder if my cinema isn’t bad, but I know it isn’t.
- Listen to the latest interview with Xavier Dolan QUB radio at the microphone of Sophie Durocher:
This news, which was picked up by several media outlets in Quebec and France, had a bombshell effect on social networks. So much so that on Thursday afternoon Dolan posted a brief message on his Instagram account, qualifying statements made to the newspaper El País, particularly those in which he mentioned that “art is useless” and that “moving towards the cinema dedicating is one thing. “Waste of time”.
“Of course art is important. Of course, cinema is not a waste of time. Sometimes words are taken out of context and lost in translation. I will explain myself soon. Besides, I’m fine!” he wrote in English.
Dolan’s latest series, The Night Where Laurier Gaudreault Woke Up, aired on Club illico, has received critical acclaim but has not received awards and has only been distributed in three other countries (France, Japan and Spain).
“I didn’t win anything with the series. I invested my salary in the production and my father had to lend me money. “It’s a very thankless process, I’m tired and discouraged,” he drops.
Mixed success
In the cinema, the disappointment is also great for Xavier Dolan. After finding rapid success at the Cannes Film Festival with her films Mommy and Just the End of the World, her more recent projects My Life, starring John F. Donovan, and Matthias and Maxime have had far more mixed results.
In an interview with the Journal last November, the filmmaker said he was particularly impressed with the box office results of his last two feature films.
“The fact that Donovan was released a month before Matthias and Maxime ruined both films,” he lamented. Of course, you don’t spend so much time sweating your butt making a movie for only five people to see!
So what’s next for Xavier Dolan?
“The simplest solution is to advertise and build me a house in the country,” he says in his interview.
– In collaboration with Maxime Demers