Lilies (1996) is a Canadian film directed by John Greyson. It is an adaptation by Michel Marc Bouchard and Linda Gaboriau of Bouchard's own play Les feluettes. It depicts a play being performed in a prison by the inmates.
Plot summary
Expository narration
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.
The play within the film
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 Doucet are performed by younger inmates (Matthew Ferguson and Jason Cadieux).
The play dramatizes a period during Bilodeau and Doucet's childhood in Roberval, Quebec, when they were both coming to terms with their homosexuality. Doucet 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 Doucet.
When Vallier's mother unwittingly reveals in the presence of Doucet's father that Doucet and her son were kissing for real during a rehearsal of the play, Doucet's father beats him, embarrassing and shaming Doucet. Repressing his feelings for Vallier, Doucet becomes acquainted with, and later engaged to marry, Lydie-Anne (Alexander Chapman), a young Parisian baroness who is visiting Roberval on the motive of having met Vallier's estranged father in Paris and him having mentioned Roberval. However, Vallier's mother, the Countess de Tilly (Brent Carver), encourages Vallier to attend the engagement party and declare his love for Doucet. Doucet and Vallier subsequently meet for one last romantic encounter. Bilodeau witnesses the pair making love, is spurred to confess his love for Doucet, and when rejected, sets in motion a chain of events that winds up killing Vallier.
Conclusion
The play reveals that Vallier's murder is the crime for which Doucet was falsely arrested and convicted. Thus, the play was designed not as Doucet's confession of his sins, but a ploy to extract a confession of guilt from Bilodeau. As a result, Bilodeau asks Doucet to kill him, but Doucet refuses.
Style
The play-within-the-film is sometimes shot in realistic settings, while others explicitly take place in the prison chapel. Realist scenes segue into prison scenes through visible set changes. After a realist autumn scene, leaves are shown being removed from the chapel floor. The final lovemaking scene between Doucet and Vallier is presented in realist style, but fades into a prison scene when the boat in which the couple are having sex becomes a bathtub in the chapel.
Even in the realist scenes, however, female characters in the prison play are portrayed by the male actors portraying the prisoners.
The play's dialogue and acting are deliberately heightened according to stage, rather than film conventions.
Awards
The film was nominated for 14 Genie Awards at the 17th Genie Awards. It won the following awards:
- Best Motion Picture
- Best Sound (Don Cohen, Keith Elliott, Scott Purdy, Scott Shepherd, Don White)
- Best Costume Design (Linda Muir)
- Best Art Direction (Sandra Kybartas)
Other Genies for which the film was nominated, but did not win:
- Best Direction - John Greyson
- Best Actor in a Leading Role - Danny Gilmore
- Best Actor in a Leading Role - Jason Cadieux
- Best Actor in a Leading Role - Matthew Ferguson
- Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Alexander Chapman
- Best Adapted Screenplay - Michel Marc Bouchard and Linda Gaboriau
- Best Sound Editing - Janice Ierulli, Donna Powell, Tony Currie, Diane Boucher, Jane Tattersall and Richard Harkness
- Best Original Score - Mychael Danna
- Best Editing - André Corriveau
- Best Cinematography - Daniel Jobin
The film also won the following awards:
The film was also nominated for the following awards, but did not win:
External links
