American Cinematographer - July 2013 - 20

Production Slate
Laurence (Melvil
Poupaud, left)
and Fred
(Suzanne
Clément)
struggle to keep
their
relationship
afloat after
Laurence reveals
his need to live
as a woman in
Laurence
Anyways,
directed by
Xavier Dolan
and shot by
Yves Bélanger,
CSC.

An Unconventional Romance
By Jon D. Witmer

Upon turning 35, Laurence Emmanuel James Alia (Melvil
Poupaud), a writer and high-school teacher in Montreal, confesses
to his girlfriend, Frédérique Belair (Suzanne Clément), that he wants
to live as a woman. Over the next 10 years, Laurence and Fred grapple with the public and private repercussions of Laurence’s transformation and struggle to anchor their individual identities, with their
love for one another alternately strengthened and pushed beyond
breaking.
Laurence Anyways, which had its U.S. premiere at the 2012
AFI Fest, was the first collaboration between 24-year-old director
Xavier Dolan and cinematographer Yves Bélanger, CSC, whose credits include the CSC Award-winning short Wildflowers and the
upcoming feature The Dallas Buyers Club. Bélanger recently
discussed Dolan’s film with AC via Skype.
American Cinematographer : How much prep time did
you have with Xavier?
Yves Bélanger, CSC: We started shooting in Montreal in
February [2011], but I was with him right after the holidays. He said
he wanted a mix of handheld, very rough scenes and scenes that
were very precise, almost Fellini-esque. The movie he showed me
right away was Fish Tank, shot by Robbie Ryan [BSC; AC Feb. ’10]. I
wrote to Robbie, and he wrote me back and told me what equip20

July 2013

ment he used, so I said to Xavier, ‘Let’s use the same things.’ So, we
used a Panaflex Millennium XL with Primo lenses and Fuji negative.
We used Eterna 250D 8563 and F-64D 8522 for day exteriors, and
Eterna 500T 8573 for everything else. Half of the story takes place
in winter and half in the summer. We started with the winter scenes,
then Xavier edited for a few months, and when we came back in
the summer, he knew he didn’t need [to shoot] certain scenes and
had added a few new ones. I’m 28 years older than Xavier, and I’d
never had a luxury like that.
Was the fact that Fish Tank was shot in 1.33:1 the
primary reason you chose that format?
Bélanger: When Xavier was doing the color timing for his
second movie, Heartbeats, the technician made a mistake and
screened 10 minutes in 4:3. Xavier said, ‘It’s so good! I feel more
inside these characters!’ So he asked me right away to frame
[Laurence] full negative, 4:3. Also, he wanted to have only the
actor’s face in the frame. With 2.40:1 we would have had all this
empty space, with everything out-of-focus in the background, and
he didn’t want that.
Tell me about working with production designer Anne
Pritchard.
Bélanger: Anne is a legend. She did Obsession with Brian De
Palma, and all these movies all over the world. Xavier was very
involved [in the production design], and he’s not afraid to express his
opinion. There were great conversations; I would just listen. I would

American Cinematographer

American Cinematographer - July 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - July 2013