Suzanne Clement on her mysterious character in Xavier Dolan’s ‘Mommy’

TORONTO – Suzanne Clement first met Xavier Dolan when he was 17 — an “ambitious, intelligent, hyperactive” young director who wanted to make a film called “J’ai tue ma mere” (“I Killed My Mother”).

The Quebecois actress never doubted his talents. Now eight years later, she stars in his acclaimed film “Mommy,” which has been selected as Canada’s foreign-language entry to the Oscars.

“I think ‘Mommy’ is like a continuation of this amazing authenticity that he puts into his work,” said Clement in a recent telephone interview. “He’s saying something very deep. And he started to say those deep things about his life when he was doing his first movie.”

The film focuses on a trio of troubled characters: widowed mother Diane (Anne Dorval), her violent son Steve (Antoine-Olivier Pilon), and Kyla, a shy, mysterious neighbour with a terrible stammer who offers to help (Clement).

While the dynamic between Diane and Steve is perhaps the most important, Kyla’s character is equally compelling. The viewer knows she is on leave from her teaching job and her stammer only recently emerged, but the reasons why are left somewhat vague.

After appearing in Dolan’s “J’ai tue ma mere” in 2009, Clement went on to star in his film “Laurence Anyways,” for which she won the Cannes Un Certain Regard award for Best Actress in 2012.

She said Dolan contacted her last summer, shortly before “Mommy” began filming, and sought help in fleshing out Kyla’s story.

“He told me, ‘I have this third character and I’d love for you to play her, but she’s not very, very definite now. If you want to talk about her and give your input, I’d like to build her,'” she recalled.

Dolan already knew he wanted Kyla to stutter, but hadn’t yet fully developed the character. So Clement and Dolan talked it over and invented the cause of Kyla’s deep sadness — which is only subtly revealed in the film.

“Some people see it in the movie… but some people don’t because it’s not obvious at all,” said Clement. “Xavier decided to not put too much emphasis on it. She keeps being a mystery.”

Asked whether the 25-year-old director is a perfectionist on set, Clement said Dolan is not “uptight with every detail.”

“Some people may sometimes think of him (that way), but he’s very, very open to everyone’s suggestions. He’s playing. He just wants to play. He’s done a lot with this way of directing,” she said.

He was especially playful with Pilon, who plays troubled teenager Steve, said Clement.

“Xavier was thrilled, hopping around, happy, bonding immensely with Antoine-Olivier… almost like there was another character being played outside the screen. Or maybe they were both the character that Antoine-Olivier was actually playing,” she said.

“There was something very adolescent about them playing around. It was beautiful to see. And then (Dolan) would also be, the next minute, very serious, totally focused on what he had to do.”

She said the chemistry developed naturally between her, Pilon and Dorval, another favourite actress of Dolan’s.

“We really wanted to do our best because the script was really good,” she said. “Xavier is at a point in his life where he’s been building something very strong as a director and we just wanted to be there for him. This united us.”

“Mommy” opens in Toronto on Friday before screening in other Canadian cities. It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May, where audiences gave it a lengthy standing ovation before it was awarded with the prestigious Jury Prize.

Clement said she feels lucky to have met Dolan, not only as a filmmaker but as a friend.

“He’s been an inspiring human being. I do have a lot of good friends, but Xavier, I think he showed me a lot of things in friendship and in professional relationships — to open the boundaries, to let go of fears, move forward,” she said.

“It just liberates you and permits you to express more of yourself. It’s always OK. And you’re always free to change your mind also. It’s been a very, very rich relationship for me. I’m really blessed to be a part of it.”

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