➤ LABRUCE, from p.29
in a sexualized way. I was born
in a boring Presbyterian cult, the
United Church, which is the most
bland and uninspiring religion.
Catholicism was for me a glamorous
and baroque and sexy religion.
I’m exploring the interaction of religious
and sexual ecstasy, which
are kind of interchangeable.
How did you work with Félix-Antoine
Duval on his role and shoot
him in double? Did you have him
create separate identities?
With Felix, he’s a straight-identifi
ed actor in real life, so it was
challenging for him on a number
of levels. He had three different
body doubles. We tried to do it as
old school as possible, without using
too much CGI—mostly “Parent
Trap” special effects/split screen
and body double. We had a mixer
on location so I could live mix the
two halves on screen to make sure
eyelines were perfect. We really
worked hard on developing two different
personalities. Dominic was
raised in the city and is more open
and optimistic and self-assured,
and worldly, and Daniel is morose.
He’s been through crazy neglect
and abuse and is more introspective
and has more vices. He’s sexually
corrupt. In terms of body language,
we tried to make them distinct.
You feature some very erotic
moments in the fi lm, but “Saint-
Narcisse” is perhaps tamer than
some of your earlier, more explicit
work. What can you say about
your depiction of sexuality here?
It is still bold and daring.
This is the second fi lm I made in
Quebec, and it’s fi nanced by Quebec
governmental institutions. The
fi rst was “Gerontophilia,” which
is a companion fi lm because like
“Saint-Narcisse,” it is about a taboo
and fetish presented in a romantic
way and drawing on myths. They
are bigger-budgeted fi lms, so I am
working within industry context
and style, so the idea was to make
it less explicit. I was working within
an industry model of narrative fi lmmaking,
but also content-wise too.
But within that context, I wanted
to push the envelope as much as
I could and the ideas were more
transgressive than the actual explicitness
of it. So, the idea of these
parallel incestuous relationships
between Dominic and Irene are
symbolically brother and sister, the
twins, the mother and child fi gures.
The implications of transgressing
all those taboos is more deceptively
radical when you have a fi lm that is
a genre fi lm. It’s more interesting to
try to include all these transgressive
things as subtext or something
that is not as blatant as showing
something pornographic.
SAINTE-NARCISSE | Directed
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rudely ditched at a swanky party
for Vogue (Chase was the “guest
editor” for that month’s issue), left
standing alone muttering to himself.
Or when a forlorn Cary, in a bid
to cheer himself up, pays a surprise
visit to one of his Cameo fans at a
small birthday gathering in a West
Village bar, only to realize they fi nd
him insufferable. Later, someone
snarks that he bolted without paying
for his drinks. Or his nachos.
With the marketing muscle and
prestige of HBO Max, I suspect the
warm-hearted, deliciously caustic
“The Other Two” will achieve the
fame it deserves, even if poor Brooke
or Cary probably never will.
THE OTHER TWO | HBO Max |
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“I don’t want to do Molly if we’re
gonna hook up. Last time I couldn’t
get hard,” the daddy declares.
When the guy shows up at the restaurant,
things go downhill fast.
Insightful showbiz jabs aside,
what really resonates is Cary and
Brooke’s underlying fragility and
humanity. It’s touching — and
oddly comforting — to see Cary get
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➤ THE OTHER TWO, from p.33
Housewives” fame), Cary and Jess
run into the duo at a restaurant,
fi lmed at the iconic Elmo in Chelsea.
They befriend them, not realizing they
faked the story to get the $25,000
check gifted by the show. Moments
earlier, the boy and his daddy were on
Grindr, ordering up a hot top.
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