It’s Only the End of the World (2016) (French Language)

Review

97min

Genre:       Drama

Director:    Xavier Dolan

Cast:         Gaspard Ulliel, Nathalie Baye, Vincent Cassel…and more

Writers:     Xavier Dolan and Jean-Luc Lagarce

-Synopsis-

Young Canadian actor/writer/director Xavier Dolan’s French-language adaptation of Jean-Luc Lagarce’s stage-play, following a young gay writer’s return home to his estranged family as he’s faced with the issues that caused him to leave in the first place, and the new struggle of breaking the news of his imminent death to them.

Having already written and directed five feature length films at the tender age of twenty-seven, not to mention the many more he’s starred in, next-gen doyen of the film festival circuit and indie cinema prodigy Xavier Dolan brings us his latest self-reflective story of identity struggles and familial strife, in a family drama featuring the level of on-screen French talent that his growing reputation can now afford.

Gaspard Ulliel stars as playwright and city-dweller ‘Louis’, who travels back to his rural roots after an unexplained twelve-year absence to face the daunting prospect of navigating the inevitable family histrionics, while announcing his morose fate and getting some sort of closure. There he’s confronted by the family; Vincent Cassel as the bitter quick-tempered older brother and Marion Cotillard as his nervous and tender wife, who seems to be only one who truly connects with ‘Louis’, while Léa Seydoux features as the strong-willed but insecure younger sister he hardly knows and Nathalie Baye as the kooky but wise widowed mother of this highly dysfunctional family.

As the soul poet Gill Scott-Heron once sang, “home is where the hatred is, home is filled with pain”, and that’s certainly the theme in Dolan’s version of the ‘dreaded family reunion from hell’ drama, albeit a hell which ‘Louis’ has helped stoke the fires of, in an film adaptation of late French playwright Jean-Luc Lagarce’s autobiographical play ‘Juste la fin du monde’, and indeed its 2010 French TV movie adaptation.

Shot in Dolan’s native Québec but set in Europe, presumably in a very Canadian-looking rural France, ‘It’s Only the End of the World’ follows playwright ‘Louis’ back to his family home for an excruciating and uncomfortable day of catching-up and attempted reconciliation, made all the worse by his internal struggle and stoic unwillingness to string more than a few words together in conversation.

The film’s family drama narrative plays out in a series of one-on-one and group conversations and full-on arguments about the past and the unexplained departure of ‘Louis’, but with all the lingering shots, face-offs, stand-offs and close-ups, this feels like a sprawling western or a period melodrama with contemporary dramatic dressing. All stylishly rendered in typical Xavier Dolan style thanks to the vivid cinematography from his now regular collaborator André Turpin, who captures a steamy and hazy summer in mesmeric fashion. And the sights are well-matched by the sounds which include an evocative traditional classical score from Gabriel Yared, mixed with now obligatory indie film synth-pop tracks for atmospherics and dramatic effect.

‘It’s Only the End of the World’ is somewhat of an excruciating and exhaustive movie-going experience, deliberately so, ramping up the agitation within a family constantly at war, bickering over every little thing like irritable grown children without a word of encouragement to be heard, with Dolan painting a cinematic family portrait of troubling household dynamics and the unintended impact we can have on them… and them on us.

Perhaps all of this sheds a very dim light on the departure of ‘Louis’ in the first place, but it largely remains a mystery throughout the narrative and ‘Louis’ comes off as something of an enigma, not only to his family but to the audience too. Dolan never really delves into his psyche or his motivations and steers clear of any real character exposition while wallowing in self-pity, opting for a subtlety which borders on the subliminal and leaves the audience to do all the work with a few words and some emotive glances, which results in a lead character that’s detached and as unsympathetic as he is tortured… but only by his own fate it seems.

Despite the passionate family histrionics ‘It’s Only the End of the World’ feels as cold as its lead character, and although a deliberate part of the narrative, the emotional ordeal that both ‘Louis’ and the audience have to go through makes the film feel much longer than its relatively short runtime. But thanks to an unexpected conclusion which leaves us in narrative limbo, typically stylish handling of the material by Dolan and accomplished performances all around by some of France’s finest, this is still a well-executed and fairly compelling if not gripping little character drama.

The Bottom Line…

Despite an embarrassment of French riches in terms of the cast who all deliver, and the visual stylings and polished execution of a talented young writer/director, ‘It’s Only the End of the World’ is too subtle in narrative and to cold in tone to be an engrossing character study or moving family melodrama. Ultimately Xavier Dolan’s latest reflective drama is an emotional ordeal which struggles to hold and entertains the audience, but will at the very least make you feel a little more thankful at your next family reunion.

Similar films you may like (Home Video)

August: Osage County (2013)

Meryl Streep stars as the matriarch of an estranged family who come together after the tragic death of their father, but this family reunion proves to be no picnic as resentments surface in this dysfunctional family drama adapted from the Tracy Letts stage-play.

Directed by John Wells and starring Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts and Ewan McGregor among others.

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