MovieChat Forums > Tom à la ferme (2015) Discussion > Dolan on the character of Tom

Dolan on the character of Tom


In an interview, director Xavier Dolan had an interesting way of describing the motivation for Tom's behavior at his dead lover's family farm:

"Tom, guilt tripped by the death of his lover, whom he sees in Francis, I think wants to subscribe to that abuse because he feels he deserves to be punished. This grieving process will help Tom redefine who he is."

http://blacksheepreviews.com/the-black-sheep-interview-xavier-dolan-to m-at-the-farm/

What do you think?

reply

Yeah, I thought along those lines, too.


Don't mistake hate speech for free speech. Remember, hate speech kills!

reply

Tom goes all Stockholm syndrome on the psycho Francis.



In this short interview, Dolan speaks about the themes of TATF:

The film ends with Rufus Wainwright’s Going to a Town playing under the credits, which, as well as being about leaving the past behind, is famously a sneer at America’s perceived moral superiority. Can we assume, then, that Tom’s battle of wills with the brutish Francis, who wears a Stars and Stripes bomber jacket in several key scenes, acts as an allegorical wink to the intolerance of his home country’s neighbours?

It’s a theme that runs through his work. In I Killed My Mother, Dolan’s lead character is sent to boarding school and severely beaten by his schoolmates when they find out he’s gay. And in Dolan’s most controversial work, a music video for French New Wave act Indochine’s single College Boy, he depicts a young man being harassed, beaten up, then crucified and shot to pieces by the school’s bullies while the rest of the pupils (who are wearing blindfolds) film the incident on their iPhones. It’s clearly a subject close to his heart.

“Intolerance is everywhere,” he says. “Everywhere where religious cults are deeply rooted in people’s mores, that’s where you’ll find the most shining intolerance: the most brutal violence and thinking and ostracisation. But it’s not only the USA. Look at Russia – unbelievable in 2013.” http://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/features/307460-agroculture_xavier_dol an_tom_the_farm


------__@
----_`\<,_
___(*)/ (*)____
»nec spe,nec metu •´¯`»

reply

I think the film only works if Tom's process makes sense, whether the film is seen as a character or a political metaphor. For me Tom only made sense when Sarah appeared and injected some reality into events, which were rather insidious until then.

I'm left with some Qs: What happened to Sarah - did she get the midnight bus? How did Guillaume die? Where was Agathe when Tom decided to leave?

I give my respect to those who have earned it; to everyone else, I'm civil.

reply

I think the film only works if Tom's process makes sense, whether the film is seen as a character or a political metaphor. For me Tom only made sense when Sarah appeared and injected some reality into events, which were rather insidious until then.

I'm left with some Qs: What happened to Sarah - did she get the midnight bus? How did Guillaume die? Where was Agathe when Tom decided to leave?


*SPOILERS*

I didn't see the film as overtly political, but ending it with Rufus Wainwright's song negatively referencing America as Tom is driving back to Montreal does seem to make a point. Homophobic Francis wearing a USA jacket also makes a rather loud point.

That said, I saw the film as more of a psychological study. I agree that Sarah (as well as the barman) added stark reality to the picture. Tom seemed as delusional as Francis and Agathe at times. He didn't seem to know his dead lover as well as he may have thought, plus he was under the illusion that his life meant something as long as he stayed on at the farm. Also, he acted like an habitually abused person, submitting to Francis' abuse and being afraid to leave, convinced that he could become 'friends' with his abuser.

Francis, although overtly homophobic, seemed to almost desire Tom at times. There were a couple of scenes that had erotic undertones, such as the tango scene and the one in the parking lot with Francis choking Tom (with Tom's submission--shades of s&m). Francis seemed to get off on the whole power trip thing with Tom, but he also seemed to need him by the end (the scene in the field) and didn't want him to go.

Sarah, who seemed pretty tough, winds up getting drunk with Francis even though she initially seemed repulsed by him, so she was under some kind of illusion as well (why would she be okay with Tom leaving her alone with Francis?). At least she finally got on that midnight bus.

All that's mentioned about Guillaume is that he had an accident. I kept thinking his brother killed him when he discovered he was gay. The film doesn't elaborate on Tom and Guillaume's past, but from Sarah's comments about how Guillaume slept around they seemingly didn't have an idyllic relationship, or one based on honesty--perhaps it was an abusive relationship.

Tom seems to be very much lost--maybe he always was. At the end when he's back in Montreal he looks out his car window at some people on the street (perhaps prostitutes) and I got the feeling as if he's either going to wind up on the street like them or already has. Maybe Sarah was a prostitute too. It seemed odd that she came up to the farm on such short notice at nighttime (there was even some mention of a $50 payment).

As to Agathe, maybe Francis killed her--who knows? The film relied heavily on atmospheric tension. Francis seemed like he could snap at any moment; Tom too for that matter (and Agathe did snap when Sarah was at the house). And that scene at the end with a shot of Francis, feet up on a table (where was he?), then a glimpse of the man he disfigured working at the gas station--eerie.

I think the film is strong as a psychological thriller up to a point. It leaves too many unanswered questions though and is ultimately frustrating. I wonder if the play it's based on has more detail.





And all the pieces matter (The Wire)

reply

Hello filmfancy, it's been a while . The film didn't really work for me and I didn't feel inside Tom's experience. So although I watched it as a psychological study, by the end and with that song in the closing credits, I thought that Tom had been a cypher for Dolan's political message.

I missed the moment Sarah took the bus back. I thought that something bad had happened to her at the hands of Francis. Francis seemed to have repressed sexual urges that emerged in his abuse of Tom and I felt certain in myself that he was implicated in his brother's death. It's an interesting choice to make the dead brother the reason for the film and yet he is largely absent from the story.

Interesting thoughts about Tom and Sarah's existence in Montreal.

The scene with the barman was the creepiest moment for me. I had a momentary thought that Tom was going to return and be killed by Francis after this scene.

A bird sings and the mountain's silence deepens.

reply

Hi back PoppyTransfusion! The film was hit and miss for me. I thought the tone and cinematography were excellent, but there were too many missing pieces in the storyline.

The ending was rather anti-climactic as well. After all that tension and wondering who's going to be killed nothing much happens except Tom winds up back where he started.

I prefer Dolan's more recent film, Mommy.





And all the pieces matter (The Wire)

reply

Mommy hasn't been released yet in the UK but was at the London film festival where it gathered good reviews, so I look forward to it. Tom at the Farm had been reviewed as his most mature work to date so I had elevated expectations. I disagree with that and think Laurence Anyways is his most mature although I Killed My Mother remains my favourite.

A bird sings and the mountain's silence deepens.

reply