Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20317 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-09-06
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 92 minutes

Synopsis
A Catholic bishop is taken hostage in a prison by his boyhood friend, Simon, in 1952. Simon forces his boyhood friend to reenact the events that shaped both their lives forty years earlier. This intriguing love story won Best Canadian Film at the Montreal Film Festival, 4 Genie Awards (including Best Film), and Best Film at the San Francisco, LA and Johannesburg FIlm Festivals.

Customer Reviews

Beautiful but bittersweet love story
Bishop Bilodeau arrives at a prison to hear the confession of a dying man, Simon Doucet. Only to find out that though Simon is old, he is not dying. He is out for revenge.

The inmates of the prison begin to re-enact the events that took place in a Canadian town forty years earlier. Young Simon, Bilodeau and a third boy, Vallier, all attend the local Catholic school. Simon and Vallier are in love, and being watched by the resentful Bilodau. Then, in what transpires to be a turning point for everyone, the town is suddenly host to a glamorous Parisian woman, who arrives in a hot air balloon.

When Simon realises just how much his relationship with Vallier will not be tolerated, he begins to be drawn to the Parisian guest not only as a way of quashing any further rumours about Vallier, but also as a means of escape from the town entirely.

Watching events unfold are Vallier's quirky mother and the jealous Bilodeau. Each knows how they want things to end, and eventually both try to influence the key players and help bring the tale to its equally heart-warming, and heartbreaking conclusion.

This is quite simply a wonderful film. The setting is beautiful and always slightly dreamy. The surroundings of the bishop and Simon as they watch the play continuously change and melt between a gorgeous Canadian autumn, and the stark but still poignant grey of the prison walls. To add to the slightly surreal feel of things, all the parts are played by men, the male inmates of the prison. Whilst this does make you blink when you realise Vallier's mother is a man, it doesn't detract or cheapen in any way the film. The women are believable and compelling to watch throughout.

The love story is the heart of the film. You feel for both Vallier and Simon as they try to keep up with what's happening around them. Though not sexually explicit (this is after all rated 15), the intensity of their feelings for each other cannot but captivate you. From the opening scene where they almost share a kiss, to one of their final scenes where they're surrounded by golden leaves, you are rooting for them to finally win some peace and tolerance. This film really is one not to be missed.

One of the best gay-themed films ever made!
This beautiful film is so lyrical, it's almost like watching a poem. Everything about this film works: the script, the directing, the cast, the look. This film gives new meaning to the gay feature film genre.

Based on a play, Lilies retains a stage feeling as the premise is a play-within-a-play. Whereas the audience is not required to use it's imagination as much while watching the film as it was when watching the play, the film does require an open mind and the ability to suspend disbelief. If you allow it, Lilies will take you on a very special ride as seldom films do or can.

The chemistry between Jason Cadieux (a much under-used young actor) and Danny Gilmore (mainly known from French-Canadian television) is remarkable, making their tragic love-story all the more moving. Special mention needs to be made to Tony Award-winner, Brent Carver, who's portrayal of the delusional Countess De Tilly is the stuff that Oscars should be made of.

A stunning piece of film-making, which should not be missed!

Beautiful and gripping movie
This is one of the most unusual and fascinating movies I've seen in recent years. It's 1952 and the gay inmates of a Canadian prison, aided and abetted by their chaplain, take the local bishop hostage and then enact before him an elaborate drama, complete with props and scenery, which is intended to confront him with a dark and shameful secret from his youthful past. If this all sounds a bit preposterous, it is, but don't worry. This is such an artful and mesmerising piece of cinema that disbelief is soon suspended and you are drawn into florid tale of love, betrayal and revenge which builds to a moving and devastating climax. You will even find yourself ignoring, or rather accepting, the fact that all the female roles are played, inevitably, by men. The lyrical dream-like atmosphere of the movie, suffused with menace and foreboding, is brilliantly sustained by the director and the actors, none of whom I'd heard of before, are outstanding. I guess you'd label this an arthouse movie, but I recommend it even to those who would normally shy away from this description.