Xavier Dolan claims he is retiring from filmmaking
Canadian indie filmmaker Xavier Dolan has claimed that he is retiring from the medium, putting an end to a highly acclaimed directorial career.
The former child actor confirmed his departure from film in an interview with El Pais. “I don’t feel like committing two years to a project that barely anyone sees,” Dolan explained. “I put too much passion into it to have these disappointments. It makes me wonder if my filmmaking is bad, and I know it’s not.”
Dolan also claimed that he was “afraid of a civil war caused by intolerance”, which at least partially led to his abandonment of cinema. Dolan’s final feature film, Matthias & Maxime, was released in 2019.
“I don’t understand what is the point of telling stories when everything around us is falling apart,” Dolan claimed. “Art is useless and dedicating oneself to the cinema, a waste of time…”
Back in 2022, Dolan stated his desire to step away from the industry. “I don’t really want to do this job anymore. I’m tired,” Dolan told Le Journal de Montréal. “We are in 2022, and the world has changed drastically. Me, in that world, I no longer necessarily feel the need to tell stories and to relate to myself.”
“I want to take time to be with my friends and family,” he added. “I want to shoot commercials and build myself a house in the country one day when I have enough money saved. I don’t say that in a sad way at all. I just want to live something else, other experiences.”
Dolan has directed eight feature films across two decades, all of which saw their premieres at the Cannes Film Festival. His most recent venture was the Canadian limited television series The Night Logan Woke Up.
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