— Overview
The notes watch how a square frame holds a conversation in Mommy, and they stop when that scene has done its work.
— Contents and key concepts
A stylish director, and two accounts of the frame
Xavier Dolan, the notes write, is a thoroughly stylish director. In Mommy, composition, mise-en-scène, color, and distinctive background music all show an originality of his own. The choice of music can feel somewhat provocative; the cuts are attractive and sensual. The sound is so loud that it can seem to jump out beside the dialogue and the mood, yet without hesitation he uses music challengingly through to the end of the film.
Bordwell (1993) treats the frame as a square border that controls the size of the situation on the screen and affects how far a viewer understands that situation; a special visual approach to events in a film, and much of what satisfies a viewer’s visual curiosity, rests on the frame. Arnheim (1995) holds that the limits of the visual field are set by the frame; the frame gives object features a comprehensible context, exerts a dynamic effect on the surroundings and on an interior, and the shape and relative proportions of the frame affect movement within that square.
Steve, Diane, and Kyla
The film is the story of Steve, a son with ADHD, of Diane, a mother for whom life has become hard because of this, and of Kyla, who appears before them. As the film goes on the three come to rely on one another and spend their happiest days, then meet hardship again.
Dolan, they write, uses the frame actively to show relations and states of mind.
A square ratio, and a conversation that draws them close
The stretch in which Kyla, Diane, and Steve grow closer and come to rely on one another was shot in a square frame ratio. The scene is a conversation between Kyla and Diane, talking about Steve: the father’s death, the illness that followed, Steve being sent to a facility, and Diane’s expression as she asks about Kyla’s past. Through that talk they draw still closer, and it becomes an occasion for mutual understanding.
The notes leave the film when that scene has done its work, and do not go on to a later account of sound. A longer version of this Korean report lives on CampusDown.
Sources
- The notes, a student reading of Xavier Dolan’s Mommy: a stylish use of composition, color, and loud, challenging music to the end; Bordwell (1993) and Arnheim (1995) on the frame; Steve, Diane, and Kyla; and a square-ratio conversation about a father’s death, an illness, a facility, and Kyla’s past.
Last updated: 15 November 2026
Frequently asked questions
How do the notes introduce Dolan’s film, and which accounts of the frame do they keep?
Xavier Dolan, they write, is a thoroughly stylish director. In Mommy, composition, mise-en-scène, color, and distinctive background music all show an originality of his own. The choice of music can feel somewhat provocative; the cuts are attractive and sensual. The sound is so loud that it can seem to jump out beside the dialogue and the mood, yet without hesitation he uses music challengingly through to the end of the film. Bordwell (1993), they note, treats the frame as a square border that controls the size of the situation on the screen and affects how far a viewer understands that situation; a special visual approach to events in a film, and much of what satisfies a viewer’s visual curiosity, rests on the frame. Arnheim (1995) holds that the limits of the visual field are set by the frame; the frame gives object features a comprehensible context, exerts a dynamic effect on the surroundings and on an interior, and the shape and relative proportions of the frame affect movement within that square.
Who are Steve, Diane, and Kyla in the notes’ telling?
The film is the story of Steve, a son with ADHD, of Diane, a mother for whom life has become hard because of this, and of Kyla, who appears before them. As the film goes on the three come to rely on one another and spend their happiest days, then meet hardship again. Dolan, they write, uses the frame actively to show relations and states of mind.
Where do the notes stop?
The stretch in which Kyla, Diane, and Steve grow closer and come to rely on one another was shot in a square frame ratio. The scene is a conversation between Kyla and Diane, talking about Steve: the father’s death, the illness that followed, Steve being sent to a facility, and Diane’s expression as she asks about Kyla’s past. Through that talk they draw still closer, and it becomes an occasion for mutual understanding. The notes stop when that scene has done its work. They do not, here, go on to a later shot-by-shot account of sound.
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