Customer Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Comment: One of the best films -- let alone one of the best gay films -- of the last 15 years, Lilies is, at its heart, a love story.

It is 1952 and Bishop Bilodeau (Marcel Sabourin) arrives at a Quebec prison to hear the last confession of Simon (the amazing Aubert Pallascio) a dying man who, forty years ago, was tried, convicted and imprisoned for the murder of another man in a small, rural town. When the Bishop takes his place in the prison confessional, he comes face to face with Simon, hardly dying and, as the Bishop comments, much older than when they had last seen one another.

The stage is set for an impressive story. The remainder of the prisoners (with the implicit permission of the prison guards and the prison chaplain), lock his holiness in the confessional and what ensues is a trip back to 1912 where we learn that the Bishop and Simon knew each other all too well. Bilodeau is forced to watch as the prisoners reenact his and Simon's past and the events that led up to Simon's incarceration.

In a nod to the age of Shakespeare, the prisoners assume the roles of both males and females, showing Bilodeau the truth of those days: how young Simon (Jason Cadieux) was befriended by young Bilodeau (Matthew Ferguson, with a maniacal intensity), who desperately wants Simon to join him in the seminary; how Simon has a befriended another young man named Vallier (performed with heartbreaking honesty by the spectacular Danny Gilmore), the son of an eccentric countess (Brent Carver) who has lost everything in life but her adoring son; how the triangle of three men -- two in love with the beautiful Simon -- can only lead to tragedy.

Greyson as director doesn't confine us to the prison. The film moves fluidly from the cold gray stones of incarceration to the breathtaking beauty of the French Canadian countryside as a lady of means, Lydie-Anne (Alexander Chapman, wonderfully warm, yet icy), arrives by balloon and sets her sights on Simon. Torn between wanting to better his station by marrying Lydie-Anne and his fearful, honest love of Vallier, Simon finds himself in the middle of a powder keg as Lydie-Anne and young Bilodeau set in motion the events that will tear apart his life.

Cadieux, as the young Simon, is definitely the bee-stung lips eye-candy of the piece, and the movie would have been made better with a stronger actor. Still, he is quite effective and, for those who keep score of these things, you get some rear nudity. The standout is Danny Gilmore as Vallier who should be a massive star. The most moving moment for me is when Vallier, alone in his room, professes his love for Simon in a poem, and is discovered by his mother who mistakes the ode as being dedicated to a long lost father. Gilmore is also very easy on the eyes and you do get to see all of him (literally and figuratively). The script does get a tiny bit muddled in the end, but the photography, the performances, and the directing are spectacular from beginning to end. Director John Greyson (of whom I'm not particularly a fan) does his best work guiding all of this, resulting in a lyrically beautiful film.

Rarely are coming-of-age films this good or this inventive. Give it a shot. I would be surprised if you were disappointed.

Originally reviewed for Uniquely Pleasurable.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: beautiful, creative, and hypnotic
Comment: This is one of those films you have to watch more than once to grasp it completely. The creativity of this movie is amazing and the acting is superb. The actors that play the young Simone and young Vallier give tremendously passionate performances that draw you into this love story told in a very unique way.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: great movie
Comment: This is a very passionate story between same sex lovers. It has all the drama and all the unthinkable pains of reality.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: From the Confessional
Comment: LILIES, based on a Canadian play 'Les feluettes' by Michel Marc Bouchard, has been adapted to the screen by Bouchard and placed in the sensitive hands of director John Greyson, an artist who is able to indulge in surrealism with reality and make it work well. This very beautiful film is cast entirely with men despite the fact that there are women roles in the story. How does he make that work successfully without pandering to artiness? View this little film and make the discovery for your self.

Set in Quebec in a prison, Bishop Bilodeau (Marcel Sabourin) has been summoned form the outside to hear the confession of 'a very sick man' who has been imprisoned for 40 years for a murder. Upon the Bishop's arrival the audience knows something is amiss: despite the atmosphere of the prison as a stage accompanied by choral singing of plainsong (The Hilliard Ensemble) there are props and images that seem out of place in a grim prison. The Bishop is ushered into the confessional booth and when he opens the window to hear confession, the person in the seat is Simon (Aubert Pallascio) the 'very sick' man who has planned for the bishop to watch a play depicting the 40 year old crime - a reverse on the confessional stance.

Through a small aperture in the bishop's now locked confessional, the Bishop is forced to watch a reenactment of the incident 40 years ago when two young boys, Simon (Jason Cadieux) and Vallier (Danny Gilmore) were in love and the young future Bishop (Matthew Ferguson) was jealous of Vallier's attention from Simon and played a key role in 'murder' of Vallier that resulted in Simon's being accused and imprisoned. The atmosphere leading up to this act includes the reaction from the small town's homophobia and to Simon's sexual ambiguity that involves a strange lady Lydie-Anne (Alexander Chapman) who arrives form Paris via an air balloon. It is the interaction of the boys with the townsfolk, the new lady arrival who desires Simon's affections, and Vallier's understanding and self-sacrificing mother Countess De Tilly (Brent Carver) that leads to the fateful death of Simon. How the story ends in the confessional booth reversal is the beauty of the film that must be left unsaid for the drama to affect potential audiences of this movie.

The cast is all male because the whole story is a mise-en-scene, a play within a play, where all parts are acted by the prisoners for the sake of displaying truth to the Bishop. There is no pretense at making the men look like women except for the costumes and this enhances the message of the story. The actors are excellent and the impact of the story is powerful. Yes, this is a highly honored gay-themed film, but it is really more about the power of love both in youths and in thwarted adults that makes it a film for all audiences. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, March 06

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Customer Rating:
Summary: One of the best gay-themed films ever made!
Comment: This beautiful film is so lyrical, it's almost like watching a poem. Everything about this film works: the script, the directing, the cast, the look. This film gives new meaning to the gay feature film genre.

Based on a play, Lilies retains a stage feeling as the premise is a play-within-a-play. Whereas the audience is not required to use it's imagination as much while watching the film as it was when watching the play, the film does require an open mind and the ability to suspend disbelief. If you allow it, Lilies will take you on a very special ride as seldom films do or can.

The chemistry between Jason Cadieux (a much under-used young actor) and Danny Gilmore (mainly known from French-Canadian television) is remarkable, making their tragic love-story all the more moving. Special mention needs to be made to Tony Award-winner, Brent Carver, who's portrayal of the delusional Countess De Tilly is the stuff that Oscars should be made of.

A stunning piece of film-making, which should not be missed!

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