James R | On 14, Jun 2015

Elephant Song, starring Xavier Dolan, will be released in the UK on Wednesday 1st July.

The film, directed by Charles Bename, stars the multi-talented director and actor as Michael, a troubled patient at a secure mental hospital.

When an eminent psychiatrist vanishes from his office, it turns out that the last person to see him is Michael. The hospital director, Dr Green (Bruce Greenwood), is called in to help. He insists on interviewing Michael, despite the warnings of nurse Peterson (Catherine Keener). Michael speaks of elephants and opera, as well as of murder and foul play…

Elephant Song premiered at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival, hot on the heels of Dolan’s own Mommy, which took home the Jury Prize at Cannes. While Dolan did not write or direct the film – the script is by Nicolas Billon – it is a welcome chance to see Dolan out from behind the camera, where he tends to write, direct and also design costumes.

Indeed, Dolan has seen his star rise since his debut feature, I Killed My Mother, which was selected at the Cannes Film Festival Director’s Fortnights in 2009, where it won the Art Cinema Award, the Prix Regard Jeune and the SACD Prize. His second and third features, Heartbeats and Laurence Anyways, also bowed at Cannes.

While Mommy has already been released in UK cinemas and is heading to DVD and VOD at the end of July, though, Elephant Song (despite Dolan’s involvement and a cast that includes Carrie-Anne Moss) did not find a theatrical distributor. Now, it will be released by Alarm Pictures for the first time in this country exclusively on VOD.

Here’s a trailer:

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