Tom at the Farm (Tom à la ferme), Québécois auteur Xavier Dolan’s fourth feature film, may be a departure from form for the director, but proves to be a cleverly constructed psychological thriller.
Tom (Xavier Dolan) heads to the country to attend the funeral of his boyfriend, Guillaume, only to discover his boyfriend’s mother Agathe (Lise Roy) did not know her son was gay. Determined to keep his dead brother’s sexual orientation a secret, Francis (Pierre-Yves Cardinal) begins an manipulative game of cat-and-mouse with Tom, physically and psychologically bullying him into pretending he was merely a close friend of Guillaume’s. Both captivated by and captive of Francis, Tom remains at the farm in a warped case of Stockholm Syndrome as the family’s own secrets are slowly uncovered.
Based on the stage play by Michel Marc Bouchard, Dolan’s film adaptation captures the claustrophobia of the stage while skilfully applying cinematic elements to heighten the unsettling atmosphere. While at times overemphasised, the score by Gabriel Yared (who won an Academy Award for his work on The English Patient) is a key factor in creating and maintaining the suspense, even amongst oddly paced scenes. Additionally, Dolan’s decision to narrow the screen, letterboxing the widescreen picture for the film’s more tense moments, is a feature that could appear heavy-handed but manages to achieve its desired effect before the viewer notices.
The performances are uniformly strong, particularly from Dolan and Cardinal, who establish a menacing tension between Tom and Francis, two people struggling with conflicting desires within their grief. Unfortunately, after the careful drip feeding of information, the film suffers from a late and rushed climax which is not entirely clear or convincing. Still, as director, writer, actor, producer, editor and costume designer Xavier Dolan has created a gritty, queer Hitchcockian thriller that shows immense promise for a variety of differing future projects.
BY DANIEL COGHLAN
