Heal the Living (French Language) (2016)- BFI London Film Festival 2016

103min

Genre:      Drama

Director:   Katell Quillévéré

Cast:        Emmanuelle Seigner, Tahar Rahim, Anne Dorval…and more

Writers:    Maylis De Kerangal, Katell Quillévéré, Gilles Taurand

-Synopsis-

When a teenage surfer is left clinically brain-dead from a horrific car accident, his distraught parents have a heart-wrenching decision to make regarding the imminent next step; the outcome of which will hugely impact the unconnected life of a middle-aged woman with a degenerative heart condition awaiting an organ donor, in this French medical drama and character piece from writer/director Katell Quillévéré.

For her third feature film, Quillévéré adapts Maylis de Kerangal’s award-winning novel ‘Réparer les vivants’ and its subsequent well-received stage play, into a fascinating technical medical drama and a moving character piece. Charting the heartbreaking end of a young life and the potential revival of an older one, connected by the rarely discussed process of organ donation, and the struggles of the loved ones around them.

Emmanuelle Seigner (Bitter Moon, La Vie en Rose) stars as the mother and Kool Shen (The Dope, Abuse of Weakness) as the father of a gregarious teen, whose life is cut short by a tragic accident. With their son on life support and in within the immediate shock of the event, they’re asked to make a difficult but time-sensitive decision about organ donation by a young doctor (Tahar Rahim), effectively having to accept their son’s passing.

Meanwhile in the second half of the film and across the country; a divorced mother of two college boys struggles with a serious heart condition and is on her last legs, almost giving up on life were it not for her sons’ support, and as she reflects on the years gone by, the possibility of a heart-transplant from a rare donor match presents itself.

‘Heal the Living’ is a rare hybrid of a movie; simultaneously a highly technical medical drama and a poignant character piece, with both artistic and civic purpose. Quillévéré manages to blend some heart-wrenching moments of emotional pain and deep self-reflection, with actual scenes of open-heart surgery captured for the film and a cinematic breakdown of intricacies in the organ transplant process.

But fear not, the surgical scenes are never too graphic of blood-drenched, even for those with a weak stomach. Quillévéré deserves credit for making them almost mesmeric and never too cold or clinical, taking advantage of the emotional investment the audience will hopefully have with the characters involved and leveraging a wonderful piano score from Oscar-winning composer Alexandre Desplat; which elevates the emotional content of the whole film and brings a sense of melancholy to the narrative, while connecting everyone in it.

Quillévéré’s melodrama about loss and hope is a well-shot little piece, with cinematographer Tom Harari particularly shining when using a faded blue “dawn” colour palette, which helps to make the opening surfing sequence truly hypnotic. If ‘Heal the Living’ has any issues in execution it’s in the narrative, and in particular the imbalance between the two halves, with the first inevitably being more moving and affecting. But there’s one major issue with the very conception of the film which might determine if or how it affects you.

We wouldn’t be surprised if ‘Heal the Living’ or its source material was partially funded by the French National Health service or the Board of Health. By the end of the film we can’t help but think we’ve just watched the most elaborate and beautifully put together public service video ever; not just to raise awareness of the need for organ donations, but also for safe driving and the importance of seatbelts…not to mention an anti-smoking PSA.

But we’re more than happy to put aside the sense of being heavily manipulated, when it’s done in such an expertly moving and heartfelt way, and by a director and cast who may have not have been aware that they were doing so in the first place… although we highly doubt it.

The Bottom Line…

To some it may well be little more than an expertly crafted tear-jerking public service message, but ‘Heal the Living’ has enough poignancy and integrity to make for a moving family drama; a film which projects the nobility of organ donation and the medical profession beyond the cold clinical experience we’re used to, and might make you want to hug your family a little closer next time you see them.

Similar films you may like (Home Video)

A Prophet (2009)

Gritty and uncompromising drama set in modern day France and telling the story of “Malik”; a young French-Algerian man navigating his way through a tough French prison system and trying to survive amidst extraordinary circumstances.

Directed by Jacques Audiard and starring Tahar Rahim, Niels Arestrup and Adel Bencherif among others.

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