Though not your typical holiday movie, I did find myself watching C.R.A.Z.Y. by Jean-Marc Valée for Christmas. The only festive link I can find is that the film’s star, Zachary, celebrates his birthday on Christmas day. The film’s title is an acronym for the names of five sons: Christian, Raymond, Antoine, Zachary and Ivan. It is also their father’s favourite Patsy Kline song.
C.R.A.Z.Y. is one of my favourite coming out/coming of age films. The subtlety with which Valée narrates desire and anguish is what makes it so watchable. Even if English subtitles would make the witty Quebecois dialogue easier to follow, you can still lose yourself completely in a visually arresting world of unspoken secrets and shame.
Zachary’s parents are devoutly Catholic, so he does not quite fit in with his heterosexual siblings. After another man emerges from a parked car with Zachary, his father sends him to be ‘cured’ by a psychiatrist. Shortly after this bizarre intervention, Zachary appears to fit his father’s expectations with a new girlfriend. Appearances, however, have a way of unravelling themselves.
At Christian’s wedding, a guest describes his view of Zachary in another parked car. Though Zachary had only been sharing a cigarette with his cousin’s boyfriend, his brother Raymond physically attacks the guest. This altercation acts as a catalyst for Zachary to come out to his father and escape on a journey to find himself.
When Raymond is committed to hospital for a drug overdose, Zachary senses the need to return home. Although he is initially met by one of the most crushing rejections for being gay, the death of his brother Raymond, and the lyrics to Crazy by Patsy Kline help his father reconsider the relationships he has with his four remaining sons. C.R.A.Z.Y. captures the love between a father and his son, and is enjoyable to watch, even on Christmas day.
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