A good movie

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this movie but, since there was a decent cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. I have noticed that this movie was not well received when it was released but I have to admit that it really touched me deeply personally. Basically, for more than a decade, I have been member of a film club and my favorite member died of cancer a couple of years ago. Another member was also currently facing an uncurable variant of cancer, quite similar to what was depicted in this movie so it was definitely quite emotional. Still, even though I did like it, eventually, I have to admit that the damned thing was just too scattered after all. Indeed, even though it seemed to be about the main character facing Stage IV cancer, it was also about Crystal (his mother), Dr. Eddé (his oncologist), Eugénie (his nurse), Léandre (his son) and Lola (his student). Most of these subplots were actually interesting (one of them was completely ludicrous though) but it was just too much to handle here. Some of it still worked like the mother and it was quite amazing to see how much Catherine Deneuve managed to achieve with a character who was rather half-baked after all. It was also rather misguided how this man who only had 1 year to live and suffered intensely through a good portion of that time period still managed to have 2 romances. The first one with his student was actually well handled. Indeed, he could have taken advantage of his position and of this young girl infatuation with his teacher but he didn’t which was surprisingly refreshing. However, the whole thing with the nurse was so bewildering. Indeed, for most of the duration, Cécile de France didn’t have much to do, except sitting in a corner and looking so sad, so she seemed rather wasted here. However, even though you could feel that she had some connection with her patient, to go kissing him and giving him some special ‘treat’ felt not only unprofessional but so wild and completely unnecessary. Then, you had also the whole deal with his lost son. It was actually so intriguing but, in fact, it was just too big to be handled as only a sub-plot. Indeed, even though you might expect father and son to be reunited and reminisce about lost time and opportunities, well, it didn’t happen, at least, I was not sure. Indeed, until the very last moment, it seemed that Léandre wouldn’t meet his father after all which was such a bold but interesting approach and, yet, he was somehow in the room when he died. However, you didn’t get to see what happened just before. Did they actually talk? Was he actually hiding in a corner the whole time? It was such a weird way to conclude this relationship. Anyway, to conclude, even though half of this movie probably didn’t work, it still touched me deeply and I think Benoît Magimel delivered here a very strong performance.