Lilies

[In] "a men’s jail in 1952 Quebec, whither goes Bishop Bilodeau (Marcel Sabourin) to hear an important confession from granite-hard con Simon Doucet (Aubert Pallascio). Locked in the confession box by Simon’s fellow inmates, Bilodeau is forced to witness acted-out scenes from the homoerotic play The Death of St. Sebastian, as the prison chapel, surrounded by wire fencing, becomes an impromptu theater.

The play becomes a link – achieved through striking visuals — to the real film-within-a-film, set in 1912 in Northern Quebec and centering on homosexual passions between three school kids: the young Bilodeau (Matthew Ferguson) and Simon (Jason Cadieux), plus Simon’s lover, Vallier (Danny Gilmore). Turns out that Bilodeau, once Simon’s best friend, became miffed when Simon transferred his affections to the angelic-looking Vallier, finally taking his revenge with tragic consequences.

As the back story unfolds, the movie occasionally crosscuts to the present as the adult Simon tries to force Bilodeau to admit to what he did. When the whole tragedy has unspooled, a coda in the prison wraps up the circle of revenge. –Variety