Laurence Anyways

It’s hard to overstate just how much Laurence Anyways is Poupaud’s film as much as it is Dolan’s. It’s all the more remarkable since the actor was a last-minute replacement, cast shortly before shooting began after Louis Garrel (for whom Dolan had written the role) bailed out. Garrel’s loss, our win; it’s unimaginable to think of anyone else inhabiting the role of Laurence.

The film is marked by moments of stunningly expressive stylization that put it in another league beyond the normal prestige picture “issues” biopic.

No amount of inside jokes or soft-focus backgrounds can shield the lovers from what’s coming, and Dolan simultaneously girds us and disarms us with the film’s epic-worthy aesthetics, the slowly approaching camera (reminiscent most recently of compatriot Denis Villeneuve’s Incendies) and long distance “tunnel” shots, down wood-paneled hallways, across the manicured street, or from the far end of a blue-hued bar, everyone waiting for someone to appear from offscreen with a solution.