This film has been on my radar since shortly after it came out. I thought "A French language drama? Not for me." I just assumed it'd be dull. I watched Tom at the Farm(another movie I've known about but resisted watching for years that's directed and lead by Xavier Dolan) last night and realized Xavier Dolan isn't messing around. I could pretentiously break down what makes this a great movie but it would be easier to just say "Everything" about it is brilliant. Acting, writing, incredibly real, multi layered, complex characters perfectly developed. The soundtrack fits each scene as if they were made together for this specific purpose. It conveys the emotions of the scene maybe the best I've seen in any film. Drama is not my favourite genre. It just so happens that many of the best all around movies and hence many of my favourites are drama's. This is now among them. It provokes a wide array of emotons like so few others. A truly brilliant movie! Watch it! You won't be disappointed if you have a beating heart in your chest. I hope that wasn't too pretentious. I'm sorry but the review titled "if you like ADD and histrionics see this film" is so hilariously telling of the person who wrote it. The reason you don't get it the way the majority do is because you either live an incredibly privileged life, a very sheltered life where your only examples of real people come from TV(or any kind of media) or you're a sociopath and can't experience the empathy(the identification with the characters and their life situations) that this movie demands for it to be felt or appreciated as it was designed. That must be a boring, dull existence I imagine. That's empathy! Not to necessarily feel bad but to be able to put yourself in another's shoes and imagine how they must feel. The depiction of Stevie going from calm as you described it(which of all things he never really is)to manic is the most realistic of how a young man struggling with mental illness reacts or behaves. He is provoked by what is said and how it makes him feel about himself many times. If you had any experience to draw upon that would be obvious.
Review of Mommy
