Matthias & Maxime (2019)

[James Luckard]

Universal has just released Xavier Dolan's new film. My copy is on its way.



I'm looking forward to it, reviews were very good, from what I saw.

[murphywmm]

Oh wow, I had no idea this was being released on Blu. This looks like a nice rebound after the unfortunate failure of his English language debut "The Death and Life of John F. Donovan".

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by murphywmm

Oh wow, I had no idea this was being released on Blu. This looks like a nice rebound after the unfortunate failure of his English language debut "The Death and Life of John F. Donovan".

Yep, I'm excited. He said he was inspired to make this by seeing Call Me By Your Name.

Donovan had some interesting elements and moments, but it was as unwieldy as its ludicrous name, a disjointed, tonally inconsistent mess, with enough material to fill six movies, all unfortunately crammed into one. It felt more like an extremely long trailer than an actual film.

It's sadly ironic that his first English-language film, with all English-speaking stars, was not released on BD in any English-speaking markets, not even his native Canada.

Dolan is still a genius though, and this sounds like a fantastic return to form.

[James Luckard]

I watched the film last night. It's beautifully crafted, delicate and human like Dolan's best work, but completely different from what I imagined.

Since Dolan said that he was inspired to make it by Call Me by Your Name, I assumed it would be somehow similar to that film, that it would be about the tentative unfolding of a relationship between the two title characters. I couldn't have been more wrong.

VERY MILD SPOILERS AHEAD, BUT ONES I'D HAVE BEEN GRATEFUL TO KNOW GOING IN.

The film opens with a big party that the two titular best friends attend, where they end up appearing in a student film that sets the plot in motion, in which they have to make out.

At this point, however, the film cuts, and we never actually see this key moment. It's a bold choice, but I'm not entirely sure I understand it.

We never even see the full student film when it's shown to the characters much later, we only see scattered images of it reflected in a mirror. The student film IS included as a Blu-Ray extra though.

The remainder of the film is actually about the two men and their separate lives. In the rest of the two hour film I don't think they have even a single dialogue scene together, and they only really have one other scene where they're alone together.

The film is primarily about how this kiss clearly throws Matthias (Gabriel D'Almeida Freitas) completely off balance. He's unsure of his relationship with his girlfriend (or wife, I wasn't entirely clear which), he's unsure if he's attracted to a handsome business associate (the absolutely magnetic Harris Dickinson, radiating moviestar charisma) who seems to come on to him, and most of all he's so scared of Maxime (Dolan) that he spends the remainder of the film avoiding him and being an absolute bastard to him when he's around him, to hide his true feelings.

Meanwhile, Maxime seems far less thrown off course by the kiss. His troubles are with caring for his mentally ill ex-addict mother (the brilliant Anne Dorval from MOMMY) and with his plans to move to Australia in two weeks.

Honestly Maxime and his mother have probably 3x as many scenes together as he does with the other title character.

The film does find some resolution for Matthias & Maxime's relationship, but I was genuinely surprised by how much it was about their two separate lives.

It's still beautifully and sensitively observed, with exquisite filmmaking craft, it's just definitely not the movie I was expecting.

[murphywmm]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

Yep, I'm excited. He said he was inspired to make this by seeing Call Me By Your Name.

Donovan had some interesting elements and moments, but it was as unwieldy as its ludicrous name, a disjointed, tonally inconsistent mess, with enough material to fill six movies, all unfortunately crammed into one. It felt more like an extremely long trailer than an actual film.

It's sadly ironic that his first English-language film, with all English-speaking stars, was not released on BD in any English-speaking markets, not even his native Canada.

Dolan is still a genius though, and this sounds like a fantastic return to form.

Regarding the BD of John F. Donovan - I know the French release has forced subs but I am wondering if the Italian release does as well. Very strange choice indeed from Universion/eOne not to release a BD in Canada. It's a shame the film was a flop, it seems like everything went downhill after Jessica Chastain was cut from the film. Even so, I'd still love to have it on BD. Another one that needs an English-friendly BD is "Heartbeats" which only has some overseas releases that are not English subbed. Alliance released it in Canada on DVD only.

Matthias & Maxime dropped to a more reasonable price on Amazon.ca ($24.96) so I've ordered it - looking forward to watching it.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by murphywmm

Regarding the BD of John F. Donovan - I know the French release has forced subs but I am wondering if the Italian release does as well. Very strange choice indeed from Universion/eOne not to release a BD in Canada. It's a shame the film was a flop, it seems like everything went downhill after Jessica Chastain was cut from the film. Even so, I'd still love to have it on BD. Another one that needs an English-friendly BD is "Heartbeats" which only has some overseas releases that are not English subbed. Alliance released it in Canada on DVD only.

Matthias & Maxime dropped to a more reasonable price on Amazon.ca ($24.96) so I've ordered it - looking forward to watching it.

I only have the French BD of Donovan, so I'm wondering about the Italian disc too.

I ripped my French disc to my computer and then removed the subtitles file and watched it with VLC Player.

I think Donovan would have made a better 4-6 hour Netflix miniseries or something, it bites off WAY more than it can chew, there are SO many story strands that are underdeveloped/incoherent, and the emotional arcs for the characters have been chopped to ribbons, so they go from normal to hysterical without reason.

The making-of doc even shows footage from an entirely different storyline, involving either a period 19th Century European setting, or possibly a film within the film set there or something. Dolan even used 70mm cameras for these period sequences. The film is an utterly compelling trainwreck.

[murphywmm]

Rarewaves is selling the Italian blu of “John F Donovan” for about $20 shipped on eBay, I just ordered it so I will report back on it when I get it. None of the other Italian discs I own have forced subs so fingers crossed with this one.

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/Mia-Vita-Con...MAAOSwiFhevDCu

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by murphywmm

Rarewaves is selling the Italian blu of “John F Donovan” for about $20 shipped on eBay, I just ordered it so I will report back on it when I get it. None of the other Italian discs I own have forced subs so fingers crossed with this one.

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/Mia-Vita-Con...MAAOSwiFhevDCu

Thanks! Even though I thought it was a failed film, I want to have the best version possible for my collection. There are a number of directors so brilliant I'll collect anything they do, even if it's a disaster, and Dolan is an absolute genius.

[Aunt Peg]

For anyone outside of Canada wanting to get a purchase Matthias & Maxime and doesn't have access to Amazon Canada (like Australians) I can recommend this site:

https://www.renaud-bray.com/accueil.aspx

My copy is on the way and I have purchased from them before to obtain the Blu Ray of the excellent The Fall of the American Empire (2018) by Denys Arcand - his best film since Jesus of Montreal. For some reason Sony Classics has yet to release this in the US (along with Sunset).

I really enjoyed Matthias & Maxime when I saw it at the cinema just before the pandemic closed cinemas down and its certainly a return of form for Xavier Dolan after the major trip up of It's Only the End of the World. I'm on the fence about The Death & Life of John F. Donovan - anyone in Australia curious to see that one can stream it via Fetch.

Also, MUBI recently purchased the streaming rights for Matthias & Maxime in the US, UK and Australia so I don't now what that means for physical media release in those countries. The Canadian Blu Ray may turn out to be the only English friendly option.

[murphywmm]

A couple more things to add about this release:
Just checked with my region hacked player, and it's Region B compatible. That's a change for eOne, who used to region-lock everything. That might be due to Universal taking over their distribution. I've updated the database entry.
Also the back cover says the deleted scenes are "in French only" but they do in fact play with English subtitles - if you've selected the film to play back with English subs.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by murphywmm

A couple more things to add about this release:
Just checked with my region hacked player, and it's Region B compatible. That's a change for eOne, who used to region-lock everything. That might be due to Universal taking over their distribution. I've updated the database entry.
Also the back cover says the deleted scenes are "in French only" but they do in fact play with English subtitles - if you've selected the film to play back with English subs.

Very true, I watched the deleted scenes with the English subs.

[Aunt Peg]

I received this yesterday. Took less than 3 weeks to arrive from Canada to Australia. I look forward to watching the film again.

[murphywmm]

I finally received the Italian blu-ray of "John F. Donovan" from rarewaves today. Good news - Italian subtitles are optional! They can be removed via the menu and the movie can be watched in English. The disc is Region B-locked, but can be played on a Region A Panasonic with the "stop, top menu" trick. I'll post this info over on the thread for the French release, as well.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by murphywmm

I finally received the Italian blu-ray of "John F. Donovan" from rarewaves today. Good news - Italian subtitles are optional! They can be removed via the menu and the movie can be watched in English. The disc is Region B-locked, but can be played on a Region A Panasonic with the "stop, top menu" trick. I'll post this info over on the thread for the French release, as well.

Thanks so much!!

Does it have the deleted scenes and other bonus features from the French disc?

[murphywmm]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

Thanks so much!!

Does it have the deleted scenes and other bonus features from the French disc?

There are deleted scenes (8.5 mins) and a "making of" featurette (14.5 mins)

[Corny Collins]

Originally Posted by murphywmm

I finally received the Italian blu-ray of "John F. Donovan" from rarewaves today. Good news - Italian subtitles are optional! They can be removed via the menu and the movie can be watched in English. The disc is Region B-locked, but can be played on a Region A Panasonic with the "stop, top menu" trick. I'll post this info over on the thread for the French release, as well.

Great news! Are the title, credits, etc all in English? Some Italian distributors tend to have them translated in Italian.

[murphywmm]

Originally Posted by Corny Collins

Great news! Are the title, credits, etc all in English? Some Italian distributors tend to have them translated in Italian.

Unfortunately, the credits and title are all in Italian.
There is also a very brief moment of forced Italian subtitles when Thandie Newton speaks Czech while ordering at a cafe in Prague. No English translation for that couple of sentences, but the dialogue is very inconsequential.
English dialogue is all without subtitles - and the subtitles for the deleted scenes and featurette can be turned off via the remote.

[Corny Collins]

Originally Posted by murphywmm

Unfortunately, the credits and title are all in Italian.
There is also a very brief moment of forced Italian subtitles when Thandie Newton speaks Czech while ordering at a cafe in Prague. No English translation for that couple of sentences, but the dialogue is very inconsequential.
English dialogue is all without subtitles - and the subtitles for the deleted scenes and featurette can be turned off via the remote.

Thank you so much! But dammit, why can't we have a BD release that is fine all around.

[Rhylliam]

I ordered this disc yesterday and it shipped today. Is it a nice cardboard digipak like Mommy and Juste la Fin du Monde (which was DVD height)? Thanks

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by Rhylliam

I ordered this disc yesterday and it shipped today. Is it a nice cardboard digipak like Mommy and Juste la Fin du Monde (which was DVD height)? Thanks

My Mommy Canadian digipack is normal BD height, not DVD height. My Juste la Fin du Monde came in a normal plastic case, but I think I missed the first pressing of digipacks, which I'm fine with.

This film comes in a thicker and taller DVD-sized digipack, with an accordion set of postcard-sized production stills in a folder in the cover.