It's Only the End of the World

I've just seen this in Cinema: it is a remarkable achievement, the humanity in this movie transcend the media form, and it does become pure art in many moments. It's the first movie by Xavier Dolan that I've seen and it is directed extremely well. I loved all the subtle humour. Vincent Cassel and Léa Seydoux impressed me the most out of the cast, but they all surpassed themselves. My only negative about this movie is some of the techno-pop music choices, but it didn't ruin in any way the overall quality of the movie. This movie deserves to be known internationally. I can already see it winning at the Awards for best foreign film. It would probably win best movie if it was American-made.

I read Jean-Luc Lagarce's play "Juste la fin du monde" a while back and it didn't really make an impression on me. So I was quite intrigued and just a tiny bit worried when I learned that Xavier Dolan, possibly my favorite contemporary film director, was adapting this to me impenetrable text into a movie. I had confidence in Dolan's genius and was rewarded beyond expectations. The film is as magnificent as anything Dolan has created before. He has said in interviews that at first reading Lagarce's language- also off-putting for me- didn't impress him but that he discovered its power on second random reading. I'm grateful he did and that he has now shared this discovery with his audience with the aid of some truly superb acting performances. The very first scene establishes everything with narration by protagonist Louis (Gaspard Ulliel), a successful author who is flying to see his family for the first time in over a decade. Louis is dying. Dolan hides Ulliel's face with shadowy lightning and a cap as well as utilizes close-ups so extreme you can't get a proper feel of a face. The close focus continues in the following scenes of Louis's family, only to very gradually move away as the film progresses. Greeting Louis are his extravagant mother Martine (Nathalie Baye), his coolly detached younger sister Suzanne (Léa Seydoux), his dominant yet socially awkward older brother Antoine (Vincent Cassel) as well as Antoine's shy, even more socially awkward wife Catherine (Marion Cotillard). Dolan tends to depict extreme personal conflict in his work, uniting his fiercely dramatic, richly colored and always unique visuals with raw scripts that seem to channel Ingmar Bergman's best work. This also occurs in "Juste la fin du monde". If you looked at the movie without sound you could mistake it for a regular- if exceptionally well shot and acted- drama about a family uniting with the result of old wounds and conflicts emerging and taking over the scenes. This is indeed what basically happens here, but the dialog, to me so difficult to digest from the pages of a book, makes it all about what is left unsaid. Because even as extreme emotion takes over the characters and bursts out they still can't communicate with each other. Lines that one would expect to convey full, sincere, angry honesty are expressed through awkward, even incomprehensible dialog that only hints at the apparently troubled history of these people. Louis, as mellow and conciliatory as he acts, seems to be a dangerous catalyst for his family, an antigen they all defend their nest against. This is endlessly fascinating and sold so well by the actors, each and every one of them marvelous. The title becomes darkly ironic, as Louis soon seems to find his impending death a minor problem in his severely dysfunctional family. He connects with Catherine, another outsider and someone who he hasn't met before this one day during which the whole film occurs. "How much time?" Catherine asks Louis, a question that together with the offhand mention of Louis's first boyfriend having passed away from "cancer" establishes the fatal backdrop of the AIDS epidemic. At first glance "Juste la fin du monde" might seem like a melodramatic shouting match that emerges unfocused and aimless, but I ultimately find it urgently compelling and even insightful through its sustained aversion to a genuine unmasking of characters. Lagarce wrote the original play in 1990, reportedly to examine his own mortality. He was dying himself at that time and finally succumbed to AIDS in 1994. There is a touching dimension to the script's nightmarish reunion as we sense Louis's need to come full circle, to rediscover his childhood and adolescence, even to assure himself that his already estranged family can survive after he's gone. Death is ever present, and instead of trivializing the personal conflicts it elevates them, because they are if nothing else moments of vitality for people not truly living.

This is the latest film from Xavier Dolan who continues to surprise with his very human stories. This time he has gone for an 'A list' of French talent. The story is from the stage play of the same name and is about Louis (Gaspard Ulliel 'A Very Long Engagement') who is a successful writer; he has not been home for twelve years and has now only returned to announce that he is dying – but he does not know how to do it. On arrival at his home he is met by his family, mother, older brother and much younger sister. His brother, Antoine, played by Vincent Cassel is a man who seems to have got more than his fair share of life's anger but has married a shy creature – Catherine – played by Marion Cotillard in a way that she owns the role, it is completely convincing. The whole day is played out in linear format as the characters stumble into each other always seeming to be on the edge of imploding. This is not an easy to watch movie as the tension can be uncomfortable but that makes it a better film for it. This is real 'Arthouse' in that it takes a different path to many that have gone before and is becoming a welcomed trademark of Xavier Dolan. If you liked any of his previous films then you are probably already sold on this, if you are new to him then switch off any expectations and let this film seep into your psyche, it will be worth the effort.

How can a film with Marion Cottillard, Vincent Cassel, and Léa Seydoux be so nail-gratingly annoying? Ughhhhhhhhhhhhh. I wanted to scream. And not in a good way. Gaspard Ulliel plays Louis, a successful write who returns home after 12 years offing away with almost no communication, to tell his family that he has a terminal illness. The film is about how his absence, and the family's imagining of him, has affected all of their lives. What it amounts to is an hour and a half of angst and bitterness, whining and hesitation. Ugh. Louis' older brother (Cassel) refusing to feel any joy lest his anger dissipate. His younger sister (Seydoux) has imagined a dream version of Louis she both idolises and resents. His sister-in-law (Cotillard) is the most sympathetic but even she is mistrustful of Louis' return. Rounding out the cast is Nathalie Baye as the family matriarch who turns to Louis to cure the curdled bonds within the family. What grates is the lack of insight into what it was that has caused Louis to leave for so long. The brief flash-back glimpses we get of his pre-leaving-home life seem happy enough, and the horror-show that is his family now has been caused by his absence. There's something to be explored here about what we owe our family, about the balance we have to strike between honouring the familial bonds, and look gin after ourselves, about needing to get away from toxic situations even if you love the people you leave behind, but the film is not interested in any of that - it wants only to wallow in how horrific the homecoming is. We learn nothing of why Louis is so desperate to stay away; so desperate in fact that he has done nothing more than send postcards with 2 or 3 words on them for years, so desperate that he does not want his mother to know his address. We can throw out guesses; his homosexuality? His artistic temperament? But the film won't so much as glance in that direction. Home is toxic; that's all it wants you to know. The main character is so blank as to be without a character. He is silent for much of the film. Many scenes are shot largely in close-up, rendering everything claustrophobic, but Louis does no more than look sick, and give a wan smile. An early exchange of looks between Cotillard and Ulliel gave me hope there was some understanding between them that would yield some insight or drama, but nothing. Cassel is asked only to be angry throughout. Seydoux only anxious. Cottilard only nervous. Baye, at least, is asked to do a little more; but even she seems to see her son only as a way to fix her other 2 children. Perhaps there is something to be gleaned here for those whose home life is truly toxic, perhaps this functions as a sort of acknowledgement that sometimes you shouldn't go home again, but for me, this was a grind. This was the first film I have seen written and directed by Xavier Dolan. I would never write anyone off (there's always hope!), but it may be some time before I venture into Dolan's house again.

I was in Toronto during the TIFF (international festival), Many promotional booths along King Street, in downtown Toronto where most of the movies are screened. I entered one booth I got to see the trailer of that movie (Got rewarded with a piece of Canadian cheddar for taking the 2 minutes to view the preview) . Because of the remarkable cast (Nathalie Baye, Vincent Cassel, Lea Seydoux, Marion Cotillard) , I decided to fork the $34 to have bragging rights for being part of the first screening. Complete waste of money. I still had high expectations at the beginning of the movie. The narrative seemed strange, Vincent Cassel looked like a bitter person. What you get in the first 5/10 minutes of the movie is what you get for the entire duration of the movie. Marion Cotillard who can not finish a sentence, Vincent Cassel a complete jerk, Lea Seydoux an hysterical millennial, Nathalie Baye as the matriarch and the only "normal" character. This movie is not going to make a killing at the box office.

Canadian-French wonder kid Xavier Dolan is back with a – surprise! – vitriol-filled family drama. A terminally ill guy (Gaspard Ulliel) returns to his rejected close ones to reveal that he is dying. Also starring, Nathalie Baye, Vincent Cassel and Marion Cotillard. It's based on play (by Jean-Luc Lagarce), so it's mostly these four, in the bitter battle which is called trying to reconnect with the loved ones. I would say that in its current form, it would be pretty interesting 20-30 minute short movie. But it's stretched onto 97 minutes. The makers have cared little about building the mood or letting the text breathe and find it's natural pace, so the story never really becomes watchable. The first about 25 minutes are actually almost unbearable – just fighting and insults. No rhythm or rhyme to this non-stop viciousness, and they don't say almost anything remotely interesting. Which is kind of the point of (this part of the) story, but still wears you down. Be honest and say that it didn't. Essentially, the movie is not about relations at all but a symbolistic overview of accepting one's death – or human being's fear of death, which some would say is our main motivational force behind everything. Every family member represents a different stage of grief which rises from knowing there's no escape from the inevitable. And different parts of the story play the process through. Written like that, it sounds intriguing. And it is, conceptually. But for me, the makers have found just about the most tiresome approach to unravel it. Still, I like the artsy interludes and the end scene. This is the first Dolan movie I've seen, and it certainly arouses interest for his previous work – it's the sixth full-length movie written and directed by him, and the dude is only turning 28 by the end of the month!

I think it's beautiful when creators explain more in shadows and silences than in dialogue and obvious visual cues. There is true brilliance to be found in the hidden and the unsaid; oftentimes, the truth comes in subtle ripples than in galvanized waves, and it's exceptional to come across true masters of the craft who are willing to respectfully handle such an intricate technique without becoming dull and overbearing. Regrettably, such is not the case here. Dolan tries to sweep us off our feet with anthropocentric framing and a flowing stream of ethereal brushings of color and emotion, something he does well, I can't deny him that. In the meanwhile though, he seems to be neglecting the actual plot which is painfully lacking on so many points, this movie is rendered into nothing more than a neophyte's attempt at a college- level, arthousy project. Fortunate that the entirety of the cast is strong enough to redeem this effort by generously depositing spiritful performances, thankfully seeming to overcome the dire facts that the writing is listless, the plot is dormant, and the whole movie seems painfully mannered and conditional. So much so, that the viewer is bound to be left confused and, at times, attacked by the drip-fed, self-folding, monotonous interactions that ultimately serve to dress the movie with no pragmatic value at all. In aiming for elegance and allure, Dolan fails to dish out a well-founded, coherent film, leaving us with nothing more than an unprogressive fable that tiptoes along the verge of deforming from 'suspended' to 'backwards'. And all very chaotically wrapped in out-of-place musical choices, not enhancing but rather debasing the scenes, pulling the viewer out of the experience in flabbergasted eye-rolls. My point of view: Overlooking the feeble dialogue, overall repetitiveness, plot stagnancy and forced emotive filming techniques, I rather enjoyed the performances -- and here is where I rate this. It's Only The End of the World is a lifeless attempt, devoid of any true passion and it could have very easily broken down into oblivion the moment the end titles started rolling - if it weren't for Vincent Cassel's very last scene which, yet again, validates him as one of the Greats. Lucky for me I will always have that to remember.

Somehow even worse than your run-of-the-mill terrible movies. "Waterworld" and "Catwoman" are basically benign. Xavier Dolan, with his big name cast, his pretensions of art-house cinematography, his maudlin dialogue, and his iMovie sound mixing, really insults the moviegoers. He thinks we'll eat up this kind of crap-- and, if Cannes is any indicator, we totally have. I really think that the only real pleasure anyone can derive from watching this Lifetime-Movie-knockoff of a film is by turning around in your seat and watching everyone try to maintain the 'studious cinephile' straight face while watching a slow-motion tear fall from Vincent Cassel's eye. There's also a winning bit with the "Numa Numa" song played over images of children frolicking through a field at dusk. Nostalgia.

I have finished watching the movie to be able to do the review, just for that, but it is that this film is repetitive, it constantly counts the same and also you can not get empathy with any of the characters. They are all great, since they get what they are supposed to pretend, show an unpleasant family and with which I do not think I could stand almost anyone else in a morning. The problem is that the script is repetitive, it counts the same over and over again. I got bored after a while and I understood the protagonist as soon as I started the film, I did not need so much time to understand him. Neither the camera nor the photograph is beautiful, it has a white and ugly light and we see the actors many times of sword with what we can not see them. If the director does not realize all this, it is that the address is not good. He does not know how to narrate, does not know how to compose, yes, he directs the actors well. The best thing about the film, when the credits come out, is that it's over.

With all the advertising that was made on the director and this movie, and with the big casting, I was expecting a descent movie. I felt tricked and regret spending my money in this movie so bad it was. I don't know where to begin. Actresses are all acting very badly and being very boring. Most of the characters are hysterical and it's yelling during the whole time of the film. People even left the room during the movie. The main character Gaspar Ulliel is mono expressive. I do not get what is the big deal with the movie. Bad soundtrack, bad acting, the real play has been insulted in my opinion. I do not recommend people to see this movie and like I read I want my time back !