Tom @ The Farm

Tom at the Farm is the fourth feature film by scarily young filmmaker and my new crush Xavier Dolan. Adapted from a french play written by Michel Marc Bouchard, the film is about an advertiser, the titular Tom, who travels to the country to go to his boyfriend's funeral, only to find that none of the family has any idea who he is or that their Guillaume was gay. Tom quickly becomes involved in an altercation with Guillaume’s brother, Francis, and becomes entangled in a web of lies, secrets and violence.

Francis quickly sets up a dangerous game in order to protect the family from knowing the truth, he tortures Tom emotionally and physically, forcing him to invite a friend to the farm, Sara, who pretends to be Tom’s girlfriend. Tom finds himself staying longer than expected at the farm, and even starts to feel things that even he never expected.

At the forefront of this picture is the relationship between Tom and Francis, Tom starts out being afraid of him, and at the end of the film this hasn’t really changed, however, whilst still being afraid of Francis, Tom starts to fall in love. He sees in Francis everything that made him fall in love with Guillaume, his smell, and his eyes, and whilst Francis doesn’t really ever act on these feelings, he knows about them, and he uses them to maintain control. The film is essentially a long dramatization of Stockholm syndrome, and despite the violence that Tom felt at the hands of Francis, he even defends him to Sara, and stays far beyond the planned weekend.

In line with other Dolan pictures, despite being a film with a gay character, Tom at the Farm is not a ‘gay’ film, it’s not defined in any way by camp or kitsch. The film’s main character is gay only because Dolan himself is gay, and because his films which are also written by him, come from a highly personal place. Dolan himself is fantastic in the title role, brooding, dark and mysterious. Managing to hold attention for nearly every shot. Also fantastic is Pierre Yves Cardinal, who plays Francis. Somehow, despite being cruel and violent, is magnetic and captivating, somehow allowing the audience to fall as head over heels in love with him as Tom does. Cardinal does so much with very little dialogue, and before he even utters a word, we know that there is something strange about him, that there is something quietly threatening and dangerous about this oddly enticing man.

Tom at the Farm is wildly different to other Dolan pictures, much more brooding, much darker and threatening. Tom at the Farm adds a sprinkling of violence to Dolan’s imagery, and the result is visceral, shocking and gut wrenching. A different direction for Xavier Dolan, but a highly interesting one nonetheless. Rating: B+