• Film Credits

  • Country: Canada
  • Year: 2009
  • Language: French with English subtitles
  • Runtime: 100 minutes
  • Format: Colour/35mm
  • Rating: 14A

  • Production Company: Mifilifilms Inc.
  • Executive Producer: Xavier Dolan
  • Producer: Carole Mondello, Daniel Morin
  • Screenplay: Xavier Dolan
  • Cinematographer: Anette Belley
  • Editor: Hélène Girard
  • Sound: Sylvain Brassard
  • Music: Nicholas S. L’Herbier
  • Principal Cast: Anne Dorval, Xavier Dolan, Suzanne Clément, François Arnaud, Patricia Tulasne

  • Canadian Distributor: K-Films Amérique
  • International Sales Agent: Rézo Films

With his extraordinary first feature, twenty-year-old Montrealer Xavier Dolan has delivered one of the most talked-about films of the year. Dolan writes, directs and stars in J’ai tué ma mère, the semi-autobiographical tale of a young gay man coming of age while struggling with his tortured relationship with his mother. Combining assured writing, a confident directorial style (a scene in which Hubert makes love to his boyfriend is a standout) and a beautifully rendered performance, Dolan’s arrival on the big screen is an achievement that cannot be ignored.
– Matthew Hays

Prix Regards Jeune; C.I.C.A.E. Award; SACD Prize and Directors’ Fortnight, Cannes Film Festival * Best Canadian Feature Film, Cinéfest Sudbury * Best Canadian First Feature Film, Vancouver International Film Festival * Toronto International Film Festival

Panel Statement
This first feature is a triple-threat feat by writer, director and star Xavier Dolan. Also featuring a standout performance by Anne Dorval, J’ai tué ma mère is unbridled, passionate, visceral, original, raw, personal, crafted and complete. Dolan is an astonishing new filmmaker on the big screen. Bravo!
– Ingrid Veninger

When you think of first films made by super-talented enfants terribles who write, direct and star in their own work, you imagine a film of muscular, bravura technical flash. I don’t believe this film would look any different had Xavier Dolan ten times the budget. His mastery of camera placement, internal rhythms and shot construction is flawless, and flawlessly simple, yet also brave, confident, complex, beautiful and jewel-like. A film worthy of Cellini. The many confrontation scenes between son and mother are like car chases, action sequences, Raging Bull-style fight scenes, each one different, each adding and revealing a layer of meaning and emotion. But it is Dolan’s outsider respect and love for what he is rebelling against, what he is challenging and from which he struggles to escape that lends the film its final humanity and kindness.
– Jerry Ciccoritti

Xavier Dolan Xavier Dolan was born in Montreal and began acting in commercials at the age of four. He has performed in the films J’en suis! (97), Le Marchand de sable (99), La Forteresse suspendue (01) and Martyrs (08). His directorial debut, J’ai tué ma mère (09), earned three prizes in the 2009 Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes: the Art Cinema Award, the Regards Jeunes and the SACD Prize.