Lilies (film)
| Lilies | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Directed by | John Greyson |
| Produced by |
Robin Cass Arnie Gelbart Anna Stratton |
| Written by |
Michel Marc Bouchard Linda Gaboriau |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Mychael Danna |
| Cinematography | Daniel Jobin |
| Edited by | André Corriveau |
| Distributed by | Alliance Releasing |
|
Release date
|
7 September 1996 (premiere at TIFF) |
|
Running time
|
95 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $2,200,000 CAD |
| Box office | $301,548 |
Lilies is a 1996 Canadian film directed by John Greyson. It is an adaptation by Michel Marc Bouchard and Linda Gaboriau of Bouchard's own play Lilies. It depicts a play being performed in a prison by the inmates.
Lilies is set in a Quebec prison in 1952. Jean Bilodeau (Marcel Sabourin), the local bishop, is brought to the prison to hear the confession of Simon Doucet (Aubert Pallascio), a dying inmate. But Doucet in fact has a very different revelation for Bilodeau: he has enlisted his fellow inmates to stage a play set in 1912, when Bilodeau and Doucet were childhood friends.
Most of the film consists of the play within the film, presented by the inmates for Bilodeau and Doucet. Because it is taking place within a prison, the female roles are portrayed by the male prisoners. The young Bilodeau and Simon are performed by younger inmates (Matthew Ferguson and Jason Cadieux).
The play dramatizes a period during Bilodeau and Simon's childhood in Roberval, Quebec, when they were both coming to terms with their homosexuality. Simon has a romantic relationship with Vallier (Danny Gilmore), while Bilodeau remains repressed and tries desperately to convince Simon to join the seminary with him. All three are involved in a school play dramatizing the martyrdom of Saint Sebastian, with Simon in the lead role. The St. Sebastian play's homoerotic undertones contribute to Bilodeau's sexual awakening, which involves an unrequited love for Simon. Bilodeau recognizes the nature of the relationship between Simon and Vallier, and confronts them one afternoon after the rehearsal of the St. Sebastian play. Simon and Vallier attack and subdue Bilodeau, so that Simon can engage him in a derisively passionate kiss. In the middle of the kiss, Vallier's mother, the Countess de Tilly (Brent Carver) enters the arena, forcing Simon to break off the kiss and flee. Vallier's mother (who is slightly insane) is unperturbed at what she has seen, and has Vallier escort her to the arrival of a Parisian aristocrat arriving in a hot air balloon.
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