La nuit où Laurier Gaudreault s'est réveillé

This is one of the most intense and impressive series that I've watched for a long time. Three brothers and a sister, haunted and traumatized by a big secret in their teenage past, are suddenly thrown together at the deathbed of their mother, and have to find a way to cope with eachother and their past. The story is extremely involving, as with every new episode the secret gradually gets revealed. All family members have their own background, their behavior seems at times totally erratic, but it's all interwoven with each other, and all the time not only the resentment and anger but also the love between them is tangible.

The acting of the whole cast is excellent, it would be injust to pick some of them out. But Julie Le Breton and Patrick Hivon are both absolutely amazing as Mireille and Julien, who alternately hate and love each other; their terrible row in the 4th episode is so dramatic and relentlessly intense that it's almost unbearable to watch, and I was constantly in tears when we reached the last episode (just watch that emotional phone call that Mireille has from her car with her unsuspecting mother!). The writing and direction is very intelligent, with the camera all the time right on top of the characters or circling around them, adding to the dynamic feeling, and there's a clever use of flashbacks, with at the end (thank god!) all the answers that you need.

An amazing series by filmmaker Xavier Dolan, and highly recommended, albeit not for the tender souls: it's extremely harsh and realistic.