Spectacularly prolific French-Canadian wunderkind Xavier Dolan returns to the scene with his fourth feature (note: he’s just turned 25), a brooding, beguiling thriller set amid the Quebecois countryside where sexual repression and death threaten to taint the landscape.

Homoeroticism and masochism abound, while Lise Roy’s aggrieved matriarch carries grief like a time-bomb waiting to explode.

Look beyond its self-conscious tics and you’ll see some breathtaking formal maturity on display here that puts many filmmakers twice Dolan’s age to withering shame. This is by far Dolan’s most rigorous work to date, his latest pièce de résistance in an already impressive oeuvre.

Tom at the Farm sees the youthful director moving into darker territory, stripping off self-indulgent excess and crafting a spellbinding, artfully disciplined psychodrama worthy of a top-tier Hitchcock.

RATING: 4/5

INFORMATION

CAST: Xavier Dolan, Yves-Pierre Cardinal, Lise Roy, Evelyne Brochu

DIRECTOR: Xavier Dolan

WRITERS: Xavier Dolan, Michel-Marc Bouchard

SYNOPSIS: Twentysomething Tom travels to the countryside to attend his dead boyfriend’s funeral, only to discover deeply repressed secrets from his lover’s family.