Lilies

When a bishop comes to a prison to hear the confession of an old friend he is forced to watch a play, performed by the inmates, about their youth together, love and betrayal. 1952: Bishop Bilodeau visits a québécois prison to hear the confession of a boyhood friend jailed for murder 40 years ago. The inmates force the prelate to watch a play depicting what really happened in 1912. We meet him as a young man, strait-laced, intent on convincing Simon (now the convict) to join the seminary with him. Vallier, the son of an impoverished and eccentric countess, loves Simon and he is drawn to Vallier, but in fear of his father's wrath for kissing Vallier during drama rehearsal, Simon courts a visiting Parisian, asking her to marry him. Vallier, encouraged by his mother, attends the engagement party to declare his love for Simon. And what does the watchful Bilodeau do? —<jhailey@hotmail.com> In 1952 Québec, Bishop Jean Bilodeau is taking the last confession of an inmate in a prison. The bishop, locked in the confessional, is instead treated to a morality play orchestrated by the inmate and the chaplain of the prison and acted by the hardened inmates at the prison. The play shows the life of the bishop in 1912 when he and the inmate, named Simon Doucette, were fellow students at a Catholic boys school. They were once best friends. Simon and another student named Vallier began a homosexual relationship, one where Vallier was more open about his true feelings. Simon, repressing his feelings, instead began a relationship with a visiting woman named Lydie-Anne, the two who planned to move away from the town once they were married. Ultimately, the play shows Bilodeau's interaction with the group and his role in Simon's incarceration. —Huggo