In his debut feature, Quebec film director, Xavier Dolan depicts an abusive relationship between a single mother and son — an autobiographical concept and main theme for the plot  of J’ai tué ma mere (I Killed My Mother). In explaining the relationship between Chantel and Hubert, the characters in Dolan’s film, the young director explains a contrast between a mother-son relationship with that of a couple. “With a single parent and child, it’s just the two of you. Like an old couple, you become allergic to each other. The love is as intense as the hatred.”He goes on to explain, “in a couple, you can break up and say, ‘I’m leaving you.’ But with your mother, you can’t do that”. Despite the dark title of the film, the story focuses on the fight for affection between single mother and son. The struggle to remain in an abusive relationship with an individual that you love shares a significant space in the life of Xavier Dolan and the plot of his debut film which has received a warm welcome thus far. Dolan’s J’ai tué ma mere made its debut at the Cannes Film Festival where it received the Art Cinema Award from an international jury of independent film programmers; the SACD prize for best French-language film; and the Regards jeunes prize, an award given to an outstanding first-time director.

Via CBC.