The latest film from Xavier Dolan conveys so much more than what its trailer portrays. The story is desperate, heavy and hopeful all at once. The three main characters, Diane Després (Anne Dorval), Steve Després (Antoine-Olivier Pilon) and Kyla (Suzanne Clément) use each other in order to help themselves, and in turn create a family union, albeit a dysfunctional one.

Anne Dorval shines as the lonely extroverted and loud-mouthed mother, Diane, who in reality is soft and vulnerable but has no choice to make tough decisions. Antoine-Olivier Pilon is Steve, a troubled young man with violent tendencies mixed in with ADHD, an Oedipus complex and abandonment issues. Talk about baggage! Pilon does such a great job at making you love him and hate him at the same time. Suzanne Clément’s portrayal of the quirky neighbor, Kayla, who would rather live the Després’ life than her own, is over-shadowed by the fact that we don’t really get to know why she does this. Clément does do an excellent job at bringing her character to life considering her limited of lines throughout the movie.

I believe Dolan did an exceptional job at showing us how to pull out hope from

completely hopeless situations without sugar coating it.