Lilies (Canada)

Sometimes when you experiment in the way a story is narrated, it backfires on you, because as a director you become very self-obsessed. Thankfully this film does not fall in this category. It still is surprising that not many people might be aware of this film. It is a shame because I have never seen this way of showing flashbacks sequences. It must have been a difficult screenplay to write IMO.

A prisoner Simon requests for a specific priest to make a confession. The preist is surprised but gives in and visits the prison not knowing what to expect. He is locked by the prison priest in the confession room and soon a play begins. Apparently Simon wants the priest to do a confession of his own. The play being played by the prisoners is real life story of Simon's young adulthood days. Simon used to attend all Catholic school and was in love with another boy Valier. Their love was pure and secret until one of their classmates (the now priest) finds out about them. He confronts them. Things become even more severe when Simon's father finds out about this and beats the hell out of Simon. Scared of anything further, Simon starts dating a visiting Parisian women (played by a man since the play is being staged). Valier is heart broken but finds his strength in his mother. On Simon's engagement day , he attends the party to declare his love for Simon. SImon finally realizes his true love and leaves to spend time with Valier. It seems like they will live together happy now but the third boy (the now priest) does something horrible for which Simon gets jail for life and this is what he wants the priest to confess about.

The whole idea of showing the flashback of someone's life in the form of play was very very interesting. I am glad that they let male characters play the female parts as well. At any point it did not look funny or weird. The whole play was interesting, though slow. Acting by all characters is excellent especially the 2 characters playing female roles. You would need patience to watch this film. Although the film focuses on revealing the mystery behind why the priest has been invited to the prison, it does leave a lot of questions unanswered. For instance, how could Simon convince all those other prisoners including the guards and the priest to be a part of this scheme. Agreed his story is poignant but to convince everyone of the truth is no mean feat, especially when it is about love between 2 men and not a man-woman. On a positive side, the relationship between the protagonists is one of committment, of trust, of pain and caring, of going through the good and the bad together.

Strongly recommended. It is an excellent example of merging 'theatrics' into a movie setting. (6.5/10)