Tom à la ferme (2013)

A grieving man meets his lover's family, who were not aware of their son's sexual orientation.

Director:

Xavier Dolan

Writers:

Xavier Dolan (screenplay), Michel Marc Bouchard (screenplay)

Stars:

Xavier Dolan, Pierre-Yves Cardinal, Lise Roy

8 wins & 26 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Xavier Dolan	...	Tom
Pierre-Yves Cardinal	...	Francis
Lise Roy	...	Agathe
Evelyne Brochu	...	Sarah
Manuel Tadros	...	Bar Owner
Jacques Lavallée	...	Priest
Anne Caron	...	Doctor
Olivier Morin	...	Paul
Johanne Léveillé	...	Service Station Employee
Mathieu Roy	...	Man at Convenience Store

Storyline

The story of Tom, who is in the grip of grief and depression following the death of his lover. When he meets the family of the deceased, it is revealed the mother was not aware of her son's sexual orientation, or his relationship with Tom either, for that matter.

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Plot Keywords:

farm | grief | homophobia | huis clos | loss of loved one | 

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Taglines:

What you don't know WILL hurt you.

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Diaphana Films [France] Official Facebook

Country:

France Canada

Language:

French

Release Date:

14 August 2015 (USA)

Also Known As:

Tom at the Farm

Filming Locations:

Québec, Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

MK2 Productions,Sons of Manual,Arte France Cinéma

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital (Dolby 5.1)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

At the beginning of the film Tom composes his eulogy for Guillaume using a blue pen. Director Xavier Dolan said this is the only kind of pen he uses; it is a discontinued model, but he had ordered an industrial amount of them from the manufacturer.

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Quotes

Francis: Next time you run off, try to go for the soy bean field. It's October & the corn cuts like a knife.

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Connections

Featured in The Art of Directing: Xavier Dolan (2017)

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Soundtracks

Going to a Town
Written, composed and sung by Rufus Wainwright
From the 2007 Polydor album "Release the Stars")
(heard during the enc credits)
Published by WB Music Corp., Put Tit On Music
With the Authorization of Geffen Records

User Reviews

Psychological Analysis of Hidden Sexualities

Set in a lonely farm in Quebec, TOM A LA FERME concerns the inner life of the eponymous central character (Xavier Dolan) mourning the death of his lover. He goes to his lover's family's isolated farm for the funeral, and there encounters the mother (Lise Roy) and her other son (Pierre-Yves Cardinal), neither of whom were aware of the dead lover's sexuality.

The film concentrates on the gradual discovery by the family of their dead son's secret, and how it affects them. Francis is both horrified yet strangely affected; as the action unfolds, he develops an unnatural affection for Tom that is both sadistic and sexual. The mother seems to be unaware of what's happening around her, but perhaps she is just deliberately blinding herself to the truth as a means of self-protection. Tom finds himself imprisoned at the farm; even when his close acquaintance Sarah (Evelyne Brochu) comes to visit, he cannot contrive an effective escape.

TOM A LA FERME concentrates on the ways in which people conceal their private inclinations, even from their nearest and dearest, and the damage that actually causes them. This is especially true of Francis, who emerges from the film as a seriously disturbed character, masking his sexual inadequacies beneath a veil of strength. Yet the process of self-discovery for all the characters is an enabling one - so much so that when Tom finally escapes from the farm, he does not appear very happy to have done so. The film ends with a shot of him re-entering the city of Montreal, the lighted skyscrapers flashing by outside his car windows, with his face set in an expressionless gaze as he drives. It seems that 'freedom' for him is nothing more than a form of imprisonment; by extension, therefore, his imprisonment at the farm was an opportunity to discover some form of freedom.

Filmed on a series of bleak winter days in stark, washed-out colors, TOM A LA FERME is a searing psychological examination of sexualities and how they are often willfully concealed.