TITLE: Lilies COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Canada DIRECTOR: John Greyson CAST: Brent Carver, Jason Cadieux, Danny Gilmore, Marcel Sabourin AVAILABLE ON VIDEO: Yes

"Oh, the quaking of my soul! I can feel my soul and this tree quake down to the tips of it's most hidden roots...my friend." Lilies swept the 1996 Genie Awards (Canada's own version of the Oscars) including Best Picture...and understandably so. This modern cinematic masterpiece premiered to rave reviews at last fall's world renowned Toronto International Film Festival. Many international users of this page may never have heard of this film, until now, but if you find it on the shelves of your local video store, swoop it up without hesitation. In 1952, a Catholic Bishop is summoned to a Quebec prison to hear the confession of Simon (French pronunciation here: See-MON) an old, adolescent friend who was convicted of the murder of the boy he loved some 40 years earlier. The confession takes the form of a play, staged by Simon's fellow inmates in the prison chapel while Bishop Bilideau is locked in the confessional with a small door panel removed for his viewing comfort. As the back-story unfolds, we learn that Bilideau and Simon had been best friends, until Vallier came to their small, remote Quebec town. The boys are busy rehearsing the school play, a romanticism revival piece written by a priest at the local boys school. The piece is filled with homosexual images of a young Sebastian made martyr by Caesar. It becomes immediately evident that young Bilideau is jealous of the relationship that has developed between Simon and Vallier when he catches them kissing passionately on the stage. Simon and Bilideau fight and Simon (Jason Cadieux) has Vallier (Danny Gilmore) help tie the boy to a prop tree where Simon begins to kiss the future bishop. Vallier's mother (Brent Carver) catches them but assumes it is all part of the rehearsal. She is not a mentally sound person anyway; a single mother who lives in a fantasy world in which she denies her poverty, referring to her shanty home as a 'manor house', herself the Countess de Tillier (Pron. Tee-YAY) and her son, the Count Vallier de Tillier, all in the constant hope that the father of her illegitimate son will return to them. When Simon's father learns of the 'rehearsal', he whips the boy severely and Simon, hoping to please his father re-directs his affections toward a Parisian girl, Mademoiselle de Rosier who has come to stay at the rustic Canadian resort. He is also venting his anger toward his father by burning down significant buildings in the town. Vallier is despondent that Simon has abandoned him and begins to write of his love for him. His mother finds this and, at first, believes that the letter is intended for his father. Yet, when Vallier confides in her his love for Simon, she is supportive and glad for him. She plans that they will 'crash' the engagement party and give Simon one last chance to claim the one person he really loves. This is a complicated story and a very complicated script which has been assembled brilliantly on the screen. It's the story of a forbidden love that couldn't be killed. Crimes of passion-- murder and arson the last of which sets Simon up for a murder he didn't commit. The back-story is the main impetus of the film, but getting to it is not your run-of-the-mill jump-cuts or dissolves. They start with the inmate-actors on the 'stage' of the chapel and flow seamlessly into locations and lavish sets. Greyson has masterfully linked 1912 and 1952 in such a way that even the older Simon and Bilideau are whisked magically into their mutual past. The cast is brilliant as well. Consider this. It's an all-male cast without an XXX rating. Even the location scenes not in the prison chapel use the prison actors...including the female roles. Best among these, Brent Carver as Vallier's mother, Danny Gilmore as the young Vallier and drop-dead handsome Jason Cadieux as the teen Simon. This film is a must-see and a must-have for serious collectors. If your video dealer doesn't have it, ask for it. It's from Alliance Releasing. (Note: distribution arrangements may vary from country to country.)

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