For me, this film is about loneliness, piercing, deafening, ringing loneliness. It's also about growing up and separating.
The main character achieved great success in life - he became a popular writer. After learning that he is terminally ill, Louis (Gaspar Ulliel) flies to his parents’ home, which he has not visited for many years. He has not seen his mother, sister and brother for a long time, and yet something is pulling him towards them, he wants to tell them of his pain.
And once in the family, Louis realizes that no one knows him, does not see, does not feel. Everyone is busy with their own business, their thoughts revolve around their own problems. Louis talks to each individual and they all talk about themselves, none of them asking about him or his life. The mother asks Louis to take care of her youngest daughter, the older brother says that he does not care about everything, the younger sister is in dreams and a little blames Louis for not being around him.
Why are these people so far apart? Every now and then, memories of his childhood, of his friend, of picnics on weekends with his older brother run through Louis’ head. But all this is long gone, and the past can not be returned.
There is a small hope in the film, a weak voice of support - this is the heroine Marion Cotillard, the wife of his brother - Catherine. It's like she knew what happened right away, this woman looks at Louie and it's like she's the only one who notices him, thinks about him when she talks to him. At the end of the film, when, after a long and furious quarrel, everyone went on their own business, Catherine alone says goodbye to Louis.
And as if not only with the real Louis, but also with his childhood, his nostalgia for his parental home, for his parental family. The film seems to have a therapeutic effect, it allows you to take a step towards adulthood, self-worth and independence.
The union of a stupid man and a stupid woman creates a mother-heroine. The union of a stupid woman and a smart man creates a single mother. The union of an intelligent woman and a stupid man creates an ordinary family. The union of an intelligent man and an intelligent woman creates a slight flirtation. Faina Ranevskaya You can't make your heart feel something it won't. And yet these two vulgarities upset the harmony of family life Rusakovs, force the father to curse his daughter, daughter to leave his father and then put the unfortunate girl in a position, which, in the opinion of Rusakov, follows not only for her grief and dishonor for life, but also the general shame for the whole family. Dobrolyubov N. A., The Dark Kingdom, 1859 First the child came out of the darkness. nothingness. In our narrow circle of puppy He was invited to be happy. And the kitten. He wasn't so much called as lonely. A rising chick fell from the sky through the window. In a moment of magic, a candle lit itself: A cricket came to us, dragging a tender grin, It's like a cricket cart. So widened our incomprehensible circle. Are we all here? I don't think. Hardly. Where are you, newbie birth? Turn your wings! Hurry up the pedal! As long as things move into apartments On the stairs, we stand back and wait. But we are not so naked and sire, I don't want a nice thing in the house. Stay with us, someone who came in! You'll see it in the evening. We light our magic lantern. Oh, laughter! Oh, bark! Scream! Taram! Elder in a carefree dance. fearless, if I'm alive, I will speak to my nightly freedom, I'm afraid of being a senior. Where to go? I'm gonna go face-to-face. The dog is getting old. The notebook is orphaned. And only a child, increasingly young, He wants to live more and more with compassion. A long time ago in angina, just came alive. with the heat of the forehead, so quiet that almost I thought, the child said, Hedgehog, Forgive me, for all of me. Forgive me, all life is alive! Your star star-gazing star. I will not fail: dying, I will come back, I will, I will. Growing up, our pack, with the right to live and rejoice, bliss and blissfulness, and mistaking it for grace. Cricket and bird stay at home. Child, dog, pale cat and me We go to the yard and there is unsurpassed We're doing a stunt at the living fair. Go around puddles and ditches, Thinking about bread and milk, What is more ridiculous than glory? Meanwhile, it comes easy to us. When September is warm and the air is slim, And everyone is running away from teaching and work. We've got a golden smile. at the metro station "Airport". (Bella Akhmadulina - Family and Life). Very good movie. You see how important it is to value your family. And everything about her. I recommend it to those who are more than 10-15 years of marriage. It'll be something to think about. Thank you, Dolan.👏
Touch and talk with the past before the fatal end.
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18+
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Favorite relatives, whom we do not want to see for some reason ...
The cast, of course, is remarkable in cinema. Both boys are remarkable, and girls are beautiful.
Meeting relatives with whom I knew once, but it was as if in a past life is something.
Not everyone likes it. What pushes us to meet with those whom we have not seen for a long time, about whom we subconsciously forgot, as it were?
Sometimes they call us to visit for years. Sometimes we just come to them out of nowhere. Some just visit relatives every year, even almost on the other side of the world.
But often we don’t know our relatives, our so-called roots. They are like strangers, even the closest ones.
What makes us visit strangers and pretend to be our own? Perhaps when we have something terrible, something out of the ordinary ... - that's when we visit them, notify them of the terrible. You could have just called.
All these themes come up in this movie, they come up in our memory. We remember those whom we have forgotten.
Interesting conversational movie, where there is almost no travel, some locations. We focus on the characters, so the actors need to do their best. Just a theatrical production in the format of cinema, which has become fashionable in recent years, of some almost arthouse format.
At the end of the film, we begin to understand, unspokenly, why we are so shy of relatives, even those who seem to love us. We subconsciously begin to understand, but we can not say it, perhaps, as our hero who could not.
Oh my God, my problems are so hard.
Oh, my God, my trouble is so heavy.
No one knows my problem except God.
No one knows my problem except God.
/Natural Blues - Moby/
I watched Xavier Dolan's film "It's Only the End of the World", shot in 2016 and collected a significant number of various prizes and once again convinced (for the first time - after the film "Mommy") that this is not my director. A young writer returns home after a 12-year absence with the intention of informing his family of his illness, but his intention was never realized. People have lost the ability to adequately communicate with each other - the mother constantly hits into memories, for the hundredth time telling the story heard by everyone, then tries to introduce his thoughts to him, which he must tell the rest, the sister, who practically did not know her brother, tries, however, rather indistinctly, to tell him something (and what will you tell in fact to an outsider and even from the bay of velvet?), the older brother is annoyed by literally everything that everyone says, and only the brother's wife somehow understands and tries to tell him something, but her husband constantly cuts off. So, after pushing there for several hours, he leans to his mother’s version, says what she would like to hear, after that he is almost escorted out of the house by his brother, whom his speech finally screwed up, in the end he leaves without saying the main thing. Nobody understood anything, people forgot to understand each other. This time, Dolan shot only French actors, and the famous - Natalie Bai, Lea Seydoux, Marion Cotillard, Vincent Cassel, in the title role - Gaspar Ulliel. But the style of presentation was not close to me.
Light leaves with the beginning of an infinite tunnel.
The film is viscous and it seems that this feeling goes away, but no, it is only self-deception. A film where it seems dialogue with meaning, but in the end it is just dumb talk about nothing, although the actors tried to put a lot of emotions into them. And only at the end you begin to feel the characters, to understand their feelings. But the end of the movie and the main character's speech, the moment you've been waiting for the whole movie, kills everything. Sorry, but the main character, a writer with remarkable talent, generally empty-headed could not say a single word of his own. (His brother praised him) Just to repeat after everyone, I understand that this is the meaning of the film - a writer, a deceiver and a nothingness in fact? Everyone admired him, but he couldn't tell them the truth, not because he was eaten up by feelings of regret about his lost time. He did not want to destroy their dreams and dreams.
This film is very similar to the typical European cinema, French or Italian - slow, sensual, nervous. About feelings and relationships, but in a manly way. Xavier Dolan, meanwhile, although he took advantage of the skills of French actors in The End of the World, is never a European. This strange symbiosis of Canadian pessimistic cynicism and French exquisite eroticism conquers from the first minutes of viewing and hurts in the heart. A cruel and at the same time incredibly poetic drama, with ripped memories piercing the text of the film - bright, colorful, stunningly sensual.
Louis (Gaspar Ulliel), a successful writer, returns to his home after more than a dozen years of absence to tell his relatives some news - we immediately understand that this news is rather categorically unpleasant, although all those gathered, and the perpetrator of the celebration including, try to pretend (at least initially) that today is a kind of joyful holiday of family reunification. Mother (Natalie Bai) fussing, brightly makeup, hiding behind the pretended elation of mood confusion and fear of a really serious conversation. Sister Louis Suzanne (Lea Seydoux) always considered her brother, who left the family many years ago, a winner and a personal hero - in her room a whole iconostasis of portraits and newspaper clippings dedicated to the writing talent of Louis. She never really knew him - she was too young when her brother left, too naive and erased memories of the time when the family was united. Suzanne rather invented an older brother-hero - and now with all his being demands that he not disappoint her.
The older brother, the brutal tyrant Antoine (Vincent Cassel), Louis's visit is more annoying and tense than pleasing. He is ashamed of the atypical sexual orientation of our hero, and is outraged that today he, who is used to ruling a small family, humiliating and annoying everyone gathered, will have to move and give up the main role at the table. “I wish you had never come, disappeared, disappeared, died” – the red line sounds in every monologue, in every line.
It is funny that the wife of Antoine Catherine (Marion Cotillard, it is very unusual to see her in a humiliated and trampled by a tyrant-husband woman) almost at first sight falls in love with Louis, and we are never given to understand whether it is in love with the similarity of mind, in the image of the same outcast-in-family as she herself - or the true love of a single woman in a lonely man who, to her deep regret, will not be able to answer her with a similar feeling, because he loves other men. Catherine is the only one present who can somehow feel the state of Louis - all others, much closer to him in blood, as if they were waiting for a visit not a brother and son, but some mythical image of a victorious relative invented by them. They are not interested in his real problems and sufferings; he is real, they do not need and are not interested in principle - they would like to see in the body of Louis some obedient problem-free puppet, memorized playing the role of the guest of honor.
Therefore, Louis is more and more silent, hesitant to say about the purpose of his visit, is silent and listens to the complaints that are expressed to him one by one family members. And what he remembers of his childhood and adolescence, that sense of a happy family that was once absolutely real, fades away. The walls of the parental home are too tight, the ceiling is too low, the grass is not as green as it was in his memories, and he is the real here is not needed by anyone; you need a smiling hologram of a successful son who, for example, would come to report the marriage of a girl or the birth of a child.
Louis came to talk not about birth, but about death. And yes, most often returning to places once so beloved does not give either peace or happiness.
In this film, all the actors are amazing - especially Gaspar Ulliel and Vincent Cassel, whom I didn't like before - but in which I discover new and new facets. Mom played by Natalie Bay is amazing. I don’t think Lea Seydoux is a good actress (or rather, I don’t think she is an actress at all) – a girl of very mediocre appearance, made her way through thanks to her daddy-producer – but here she is unexpectedly very good and atypical for herself. Marion Cotillard as always, as they say.
It's kind of strange to imagine that someone "It's just the end of the world" could not touch at all. Personally, for a long time I could not in principle understand the surrounding reality, under the impression of rushing out emotions and incredible close-ups that are in the film. From suddenly some primitive hits, illustrating the suffering of the heroes, and from a dead bird on the carpet.
Not everyone will like watching. But for me, it's almost a masterpiece. A little bit short of a masterpiece.
Uneven, full of pretentious visual solutions, but sensual family drama. After 12 years, the main character comes to his family to report his deadly illness, but can not dare to do it.
Time is irreversible and exhaustible. The situation in which you move away from people close by blood and can not share with them the most intimate, tragic. Louis talks about wanting to arrive early, describes his morning, but hears from an irritable, always dissatisfied brother, "You're really just filling the void between us." In his words, emotional reactions, like his younger sister, there is a deep unspoken resentment.
Disturbing his habitual existence by the sudden appearance of Louis realizes his guilt and, being unable to return lost time and express himself about the future, catches in the rapid stream of moments still available bright moments. In a tense, hot atmosphere, the important is silenced. And life is inexorable, and one day the cuckoo will fly out of the clock and, falling on the carpet, will take its last breath.
A middle-aged Louis-boyfriend 12 years later came to see his family and tell them about his terrible diagnosis.
He is calm, balanced and absolutely scared, he is afraid of his own family, their reaction, especially his brother Antoine.
Antoine is a bright character. Aggressive, constantly teases and does not take into account the opinion of his relatives, does not hear them and does not want to listen. He openly states that he does not care why his brother came, resented the whole world and first of all Louis. His temper is hefty, does not control his words or actions, condemns, but he does the same thing, a log in his eye, when he does not approve of the "bourgeois" smoking of his mother, but if Antoine smokes, he smokes.
Suzanne is weak, not knowing Louis at all, desperately trying to build contact with him. She is still a little girl, missing her brother, trying to drown out her emptiness from lack of attention and communication with loved ones. She naively puts the postcard down, with trepidation expects a miracle.
Mom is an extravagant woman who wants to impress her son with gay makeup and fashionable clothes. She loves him no matter what, with a warm motherly love.
Catherine’s wife Antoine believes, or rather her husband suggested to her, that she does not have a voice in this family, is on the outskirts, but she is the only person who understands the purpose of Louis’ visit.
The picture is teeming with close-ups, through which the dialogue between Catherine and Louis is transmitted to us. She, the woman he sees for the first time, by filming shows the depth of their glances, they look into each other's souls. She understands his helplessness. Their dialogues are something beautifully built and piercing to the depths.
The film is full of light. Standing in front of the windows, the camera shoots directly in front of the actors, highlights them. The colors are mostly also light, dark intimidating here at a minimum. "It's only the end of the world" is imbued with symbolism, hope, even if it may be in vain.
After watching, there is a pleasant feeling, albeit such a dramatic story. Of course, you need to look, perhaps someone will see a reflection of themselves or loved ones, for sure will discover something for themselves.
Well, so I watched that movie. Several times I came across it in the recommendations, and nowhere was the information that would tell me that this film would not be interesting to me. To be honest, I think we need to make a special note that Attention is another film about the hard life of the queer community. Because there are people like me, dumb, artless people who are infinitely far from gay issues, who are sick of movies about their suffering.
And if only this, so the film as a whole did not take the stated bar. Actors (talented and strong) overplayed - apparently because the script did not allow them to reveal the characters and their motivations, and the skill you can not drink. And in the end, the characters yell at each other and cry for no reason. The hero of Cassel just constantly screams on the verge of hysteria, the viewer must understand that this is because he all these years longed for his brother and considers his life worthless and uninteresting. But the viewer only understands that the character is inadequate. At one point it seemed to me that the older brother understood everything about the younger one, but I could not verify it.
Maybe it’s the mentality, maybe in the Russian classics, but somehow these stormy expressions of incomprehensible emotions do not really believe, alas.
The whole film wanted such a heat of passions to lead to some strong conclusion, but, except for painful close-ups, nothing led to anything.
And a bird is pathetic. Especially since it's out of place.
The film, although it received two prizes at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, did not impress. I don't know what the jury is up to. It is clear that the topic is complex, dramatic, the atmosphere of the tragedy hangs in the air a thick cloud and it is not possible to dispel this cloud. However, I did not notice anything outstanding, catching in the soul, except the actual plot. The structure of the film is very doubtful: without any prefaces, a complex psychological game of life colors and shades of fate begins, for the most part it is incomprehensible and confusing. You just have to wade through the overlapping stories, so as not to lose sight of the main thread. I had a hard time doing that. It is quite difficult to concentrate only on negative emotions, to sympathize endlessly, to regret. In fact, there is no action in the picture! Just communication in one location, from which you need to make a mosaic of individual characters, attachments, memories.
From a psychological point of view, the material is probably excellent and has its indisputable qualitative aspects. The drama of the impossibility to tell relatives about his imminent departure certainly touches many, many strings of the soul and puts the motif sad, as if singing alive. But this story, as a visualized action, will look more organically in the theater than in the film version. I thought so. . .
And of course (as without this), the character of Louis in modern realities, must necessarily be gay! What would, so to speak, ' aggravate' and ' deepen' as well as direct the plot in the direction of tolerance of the European view of society. This is so stupid! This is so boring!
A sad film about natural, unshakable things that, on the one hand, are obvious, and on the other - controversial. For lovers of psychoanalysis. I wouldn't watch it a second time. .
I will not talk about the amazing talent of Xavier Dolan, only I will say that the originality of his work lies in the fact that his films always contain a certain defect. This is not a clearly mathematically calculated and calibrated movie, these are some creative strokes, a gust of the soul, which suggest a certain ambiguity and blurring of the idea and plot. But the films of Xavier Dolan are interesting because in addition to the fact that they never leave you indifferent, they also cause the need to think, try to understand the meaning of what they saw, reflect and argue.
The film ' It's Only the End of the World' the most striking example of such a movie. Many, including professional film critics, took this film superficially. The summary of such film critics boils down to the fact that the main character comes to his family to talk about his trouble - a deadly disease, but no one wants to listen to him, everyone makes noise, swears and talks about what only they care about. I think this view is completely wrong.
First of all, family members resent Louis. He long ago left his home, became a successful writer, and all his communication with his mother, brother and sister was limited only to postal greetings on holidays. At the same time, as shown in the film, his childhood was quite happy, he was loved, and the older brother was initiated into all his secrets, cared for and supported Louis.
The arrival of the main character was perceived differently by family members. Despite the resentment, for his mother, he is a son who has achieved success, of which she can be proud. She perceives his arrival as a happy turn in the life of the family, she believes that Louis will be able to lead the family, become a guiding beacon for her. For his younger sister, who knew him very little by virtue of her age and did not feel such resentment as the others, he is a hero, a star who descended from heaven. Only the older brother, thanks to his wisdom and a subtle sense of his younger brother, realizes that Louis came for a reason, that there is some hidden reason for this. At the same time, he, as the person closest to Louis in the family, feels the most offended, his resentment just bumbles. And he wants to understand the true reason for the arrival of his younger brother, he is annoyed by the joyful cackling of his mother, younger sister and wife, as well as Louis’s secretiveness. At the same time, the wife of the older brother stands apart, she did not know Louis before, but a certain spiritual connection immediately arose between them, just two people met, amazingly mentally coincide with each other.
This is a stunning, emotional and touching story about the tragic belated visit of the prodigal son to the family where he was known, loved and always waited for.
“It’s Only the End of the World” and “The Most Valuable Gift”
The film was a godsend for me! This is exactly the style of storytelling I love: when the film is a convulsion, when the film is a visionary ... where everything is very beautiful, subtle, painful and unsaid. From such films inside, something changes, they seem to grow in you, becoming part of your memories and rebuilding you. And the point here is not even in the plot, it is more likely in close patterns ... in a close worldview ... not everyone will be as familiar and understandable ... and even more interesting ... although, it is always worth the risk ...
It is noteworthy that the film is based on the play, because there are so many advantages in it: a lot of close-ups, no action dynamics, a lot of psychology, tear, emotions, contradictions - the film is to some extent even heartbreaking and requires considerable spiritual strength, but it is worth it, because it opens important in the heart.
As for the characters of the film, I liked that they are not shown flat at all, so the attitude towards them changes throughout the viewing. At first, you empathize with the main character and even share his vision of the world... but gradually it becomes somehow ashamed and awkward for him. The behavior of a brother, sister, mother also causes discomfort in the soul, the same awkwardness, but at the same time you seem to understand them, you hurt with them ... and in fact you feel sorry for them all. But at the same time, you feel a fatal doom ... because harmony is impossible ... she is suffocating there ... too much distorted, broken ... too much pain and despair ... too little wisdom ... little knowledge ... little love and patience ... and no one in this closed system of relatives ... except that only the wife of a brother who came to this family and was brought up in a different environment with normal values ...
And this family is destroyed at the base ... a sad and unhappy mother ... children who were not allowed to dream ... and only one seemed to break free from this oppressive and consciousness-enslaving hell of the family ... but it turned out, did not escape ... it turned out, made even worse ... Not only did he not become happy himself, but he made the lives of other family members even more miserable by his “demonstration of success”, which in fact was not a success at all. There was a great tragedy in their soul ... they loved their brother ... but at the same time they hated him ... comparing themselves to him they were always miserable losers ... and it ate ... all their lives ... this is an internal contradiction ... and like a postcard from him they carefully kept ... but at the same time, their presence was for them torture ...
When our hero suddenly decides to return ... he breaks the already precarious balance in their house ... because he is one of the reasons for dissatisfaction with their lives ... and yes, it seems that they always had the opportunity to live as they want ... but no ... honestly everyone knows that not everyone has talent ... about this says the sister ... That not everyone has the right to leave the mother ... about it says the older brother ... that for someone it is a sewn in the background duty ... to bear responsibility for their mother ... children wife sister ...
Every dialogue in this film is saturated with despair... an inability to transcend circumstances. Unfreedom eats even more than the loneliness from which the main character tries to escape. And that disappointed me in him... That he was allowed to live the way he dreamed... but he failed... and came not as a secret of happiness to share, but to “pull” them in misfortune... to tell them that, you know, I’m going to die soon... he didn’t care about them...
And his brother is essentially right in the car...in his observation that everyone just wants to use you...that’s the way it is in the world. And you can understand it, it is aggressive not from strength ... but from weakness ... from despair ... that life somehow did not work out so ... and you do not even know how to steer it ... how to get out of this joyless existence ... so you are one of the ways to find a way out - you are indignant and grumble ...
This is Kali Yuga... the age of strife... awkward pathetic and sad relationships... the degradation of the older generation, the lack of understanding of the meaning of life... no one else teaches how to live... because they have not been taught... and they cannot... And it is like a circular guarantee of misery... as if it were inherited. And there is a belief that everyone can make the world a little better, a little kinder ... but the problem, few people know how to do it.
I remember the parable in this regard:
The Most Valuable Gift
Once a wise man walked along the road, admired the beauty of the world and enjoyed life. Suddenly he noticed a man hunched under an unbearable burden.
- Why do you condemn yourself to such suffering? asked the wise man.
- I suffer for the happiness of my children and grandchildren, the man replied. My great-grandfather suffered all his life for my grandfather’s happiness, my grandfather suffered for my father’s happiness, my father suffered for my happiness, and I will suffer all my life only to make my children and grandchildren happy.
- Was anyone happy in your family? asked the wise man.
- No, but my children and grandchildren will certainly be happy! the unfortunate man replied.
- The illiterate will not learn to read, and the mole will not educate the eagle! – said the sage, – learn first to be happy yourself, then you will understand how to make your children and grandchildren happy!
This will be your most precious gift to them!
It's just the end of the world.
Trying to write a review of the film, I thought about why this film and what is unusual about it? in an attempt to get away from the stereotype, I understand that only the sincerity and honesty of my feelings in expressing my emotions towards the film will be a real review of the film, only in this way you can pay tribute to the young Dolan and the tragedy of the film, so familiar to many of us. Films, books, plays and other artistic genres speak the same language - the language of public life, the life of a particular person, trying to make it richer and more beautiful with metaphors and symbols.
From watching, I have a pleasant and at the same time sad feeling. Perhaps some shots will forever remain in my memory, as if I wanted to remember in six years what I remember this period, definitely will appear from the film in my memory, but the daily events of life will not be so significant, because it is the emotions experienced from watching the film that made my life vivid and memorable. It's a brief moment of wonder, and in those moments, I understand why I love life and why I love movies and why I fell in love with Dolan. It was after this film that I became convinced that I love Dolan.
The pain once experienced by Louis in childhood was traumatized, because of which he could not stay in his homeland with his relatives, but not having the strength to express his true feelings to them, he distanced himself from them and from everything that connected him with the most memorable days of his life. But now the hero returns to his home, where the feeling of losing a loved one, but still alive, left an indelible mark on the life of the whole family. The accumulated rage and understatement of his brother, the unfulfilled hopes of his sister and mother. The silent witness of the whole action becomes Katrina. The most striking moment of the film was a silent glance between Katrina and Louis, in which absolutely all the answers were expressed and everyone in the family felt this, understood in depth that this was likely their last meeting. Tears were drawn from the scene of the quarrel when Louis left. As each part fought for its preservation, out of fear of losing, expressing completely inappropriate words and feelings, because such a long separation and resentment only after a while can melt the heart of the family. Stifled by the past, feelings stifled sincerity and openness, which was all that was required. To say that you love, that you forgive, forget the past and embrace. 12 years of separation did not matter, because he still remains in the memory of his brother, son. So little time and so much to say. You have to go through all the stages of accepting the prodigal son. But time is not on our side. And the only thing that can be done for the benefit of others is to say the last encouraging words that will give them the strength to live on without pain and leave unspoken with their own pain. Like you never existed. Death is our last refuge. The music, the footage of the film constantly played in the mind cause bright and sad emotions that are so necessary when your heart hardens. That’s why I’m grateful for films like this that can bring the mind back to compassion and the heart back to love.
It’s hard to say goodbye, to say goodbye to those you love and those who are afraid of losing you. It's even harder to do when they can't see you, when they can't hear themselves or each other. It's even harder when you're not allowed to tell.
After watching this film, you are once again convinced that human relationships, and even more so relationships in the family, are a difficult thing, since in relations with relatives it is difficult to be guided by logic alone, to rationalize the actions and words of loved ones. Most of the pain comes from those we love, they don’t think about hurting us or thinking, but they want to hurt us, not because they realize they’re cruel, not because they want us to feel pain, they just don’t control emotions when it comes to those they love. What do you do when you understand them? You understand and feel their love and you cannot react to all the cruel words as they would react, you cannot take and break during another quarrel of your relatives, shout and report the ill-fated news in a fit of rage, guided only by your egoism, because you perfectly understand the pain you will cause. Louis is left to be silent, to listen to his family, to wonder when the right time will come to finally say that he will not return. But there is no right time, and there is no answer to the question: is it better to be with those you love, in their world of intractable conflicts and resentments, unrealized or live your life, achieve something more away from everyone you care about and miss the time you could spend with them?
'It's just the end of the world' is a film-play. Undoubtedly, the literary basis is felt (the film is based on the play of the same name by Jean-Luc Lagarce), for example, in the construction of the film - the classical formula ' three unity': the unity of time, the unity of place and action, - the principle of dramaturgy of the classical era. Despite its classical origins, Xavier Dolan creates a modern film with a clear young sound. The individual vision of the director is felt throughout the picture, as well as the emotional tension, which even after the credits remains a slight elusive scent.
What's the movie about? Family. Childhood. On emptiness.
Emptiness is what shapes us, our component. The protagonist, Louis, at 22, left the family and broke ties with his mother, sister and brother, and after 12 years he wants to return because he learned that he was terminally ill. From the beginning, I had the feeling that Louis would not tell his family about his imminent death. During the film you think: 'Yes or No?' Waiting for the moment: ', maybe now? Now he'll say ' The main character does not have many lines in the film, he listens more and watches: he returns to the world he once rejected and left. And the world changed: he grew up and got old, and Louis’ absence, the emptiness left by him, was filled with myth, illusion, pain, ousting him completely. Returning, the hero watches his simulacrum, the shadow that has taken his own place in the family. His mother comes up with the role, and Louis plays it to the end. His world comes into contact with the world of the family, but never penetrates into it, does not dissolve, does not become part of it.
Let me tell you a little bit about camera work. It's a beautiful color solution. The impression of freshness and at the same time integrity from the construction of the frame remains.
I can’t help but mention the great musical selection that, frankly, started my introduction to the film. The cast is beyond praise.
There is no desire to disassemble the creation of the film - you do not want to destroy the integrity and harmony of the harmony created by the director. It’s just a beautiful piece that I’m just enjoying touching.
Dolan is expressive, incredibly realistic and intimate. It touches images down to the deepest nerves of the soul. An admixture of nostalgia for childhood creates a sweet-salted caramel plaque. It’s great to see young and real filmmakers appear in modern cinema. After all, Xavier Dolan is only 30 now, what masterpieces await us next?
I finally got to my favorite director Xavier Dolan. His films are not very well known among Russian moviegoers, they require careful viewing, so his child ' It's just the end of the world' I can not call a great choice for leisure. As a basis, he took a play on the subject of family, and I myself did not dare to get acquainted with this work for a long time. This time, the director picked up a strong cast, including Lea Seida, Marion Cotillard, Vincent Cassel. As always, he skillfully worked with light, playing with details, large shots, concise but deep dialogue. The music is also great.
The main character, absent from the family for 12 years, returns home to report his deadly illness. But doing so is not so easy. These people seem to him completely strangers: an older brother who does not hide his resentments and envy, a younger sister - naive, cocky, insecure, a mother who almost goes mad, stuck somewhere in the depths of her youth.
They try to meet him cordially, but can not resist family quarrels, stupid hamstrings, strange questions. The main character Louis simply does not manage to find an appropriate opportunity to present the sad news. He just almost silently absorbs the wild behavior of relatives, at times recalling warm moments from childhood, but barely catches the connection between his past and such a ridiculous present. Louis tries to accept them as they are, to forgive them all the awkwardness, aggression. He also apologizes for having become a big gap in their lives.
Family is sacred, but sometimes these people can become strangers to you than colleagues or friends. It’s never easy to know how many people are close to you.
A young, seemingly successful writer, Louis, flies to his home. He was absent for a very long time, and, most likely, would continue to ignore him, if not for one “but” – he is mortally ill, and this trip is a farewell to his family. However, instead of family idyll, heartfelt conversations and meals, mutual tears and lamentations, he finds himself in the midst of sincere gnawing hatred for his fellow man, among envy and mutual claims, among failure and indivisible love. His relatives, unlike him, who failed to add two plus two in their lives, see him as the center of their universe, and therefore can relate to him extremely polarly - from maximum love to maximum jealousy. The disease predictably fades into the background - Louis does not even have the opportunity to utter any thoughtful phrase, let alone conduct a dialogue. Everyone has their own problems.
It is believed that Dolan grew up with this film. This is not a spontaneous story, but a carefully thought out, selected and planned play by French playwright Jean-Luc Lagarce. Almost no mothers, with a slight degree of homosexuality (Louis will not have time for his orientation at all), and absolutely no personal Dolan. No young Canadian aspirations or zeal. Trying to reflect a life you may not yet know, but you already feel. It is in this regard that there was a very ambiguous reaction from the critics to this film - even if everything is formally read, there is also a reason to blow a leash on a grown prodigy.
But it's akin to the plot of the tape. The fault is all the same, the above-mentioned elements of human hostility. With this film, Dolan not only began his introduction into the cinema about his uncles and aunts tired of life, but also fully realized creatively. “It’s Only the End of the World” looks much simpler and easier than the director’s initial films. Here no one is looking for his own self, there is no one uncertain about the existence of his own self. Everyone is sharing their own unhappiness. All except the main character. But he is also a reflection of great fatigue from the end of a small big life.
Abundant color correction, the use of glare, pop art, clip editing, media music - now this is revealed by a pleasant balance for the eye, and diluted by a constant series of close-ups. Otherwise, the character was brought to the forefront for the first time, children’s and youthful questions ceased to to torment the director. Hipsters? Indy-movie? Another revolution in freedom or the usual pampering and bad taste of a young organism?
Sure, first. Authorship = expression. It does not matter how your inner attitude is displayed, if it is yours and accepted by the viewer. Dolan was looking for an exceptionally cozy shell for the hero’s uncomfortable claustrophobia when you are locked not inside the space, but between rejected, crazy people. He found it in a combination of looking at the faces - there is no open face of Louis, but the others gladly show their outer shell, permeated through the feelings that arise from the inside. Is having a feeling at the core exorbitant? Xavier is just that – the lack of embarrassment to show his feelings. That's why they love him. For this, you can love this picture - no matter how much it is theatrical, it is simply permeated with experiences and tenderness to its characters.
Louis visits his family after 12 years to tell them he is terminally ill. I have a lot of questions. Did the family deserve this news in 12 years? Louis is doing the right thing that he never dares to tell them. Why is he just here now? What is his sister and mother to blame for? What did he expect from this meeting? It's hard for me to understand. Who was the first one to hurt each other? Was there a reason to be missing for so many years? I may be wrong, but it's obvious to me that after 12 years, it's someone else's family. Maybe they all want to fix it, but it doesn't work that way. I see how much Louis suffers, how hard and painful he is. But his stepfather's house, it's not where he's expected to be, and maybe he's the reason. The mistakes of the past can sometimes only be reconciled, because it is often impossible to correct them. The point is, you can't bring back the past.
The film for me is very personal, touching, deep. I understand what all the actors are silent about, what they think when tears come out in front of them. And everyone, I can kind of understand. I haven’t written reviews in a long time, but this film has pierced me with its candor. And it seems that there is no great tragedy in front of us, but at the same time it is a rather strong drama that touches on a painful topic. Gaspar Ulliel is a talented player, and I feel sorry for his character. But that doesn’t mean I want his family to rejoice over his arrival and forget the last 12 years. They're human beings, that's impossible. Louie's arrival alone won't change their relationship. Yeah, he already knew that. There's nothing he can do about it. Yeah, and he's running out of time.
The film is very close to reality, it is sad and true. The picture helps to look at this situation from different sides. Thank you to Xavier Dolan for the subtle depiction and understanding of the human senses and soul. Take care of yourself and your loved ones. Thank you very much.
Perhaps no film director has not caused such controversy as "It's only the end of the world." Critics and viewers’ assessments of the film range from complete rejection and the status of “Dolan’s worst film” to the title of his most mature and serious work. What only history in Cannes is worth: crammed with critics, "The End of the World" received the Grand Prix, the second most important award of the festival, and was also awarded the prize of the Christian ecumenical jury.
"It's Only the End of the World" violates most of the laws of film drama. It is practically devoid of action development. As much as Anton Chekhov’s plays are deprived of it. All characters are static. Moreover, the information we are given about them is so little that it is sometimes insufficient, much of their relationship remains unclear. All the silence, all the misunderstanding. Add to this the fact that the film consists mainly of monologues, solo characters succeed each other, a galaxy of stars of French cinema (Natalie Bai, Vincent Casel, Marion Cotillard, Lea Seydoux, Gaspar Ulliel) shows master classes of acting. Not without original solutions in terms of form: filmed “the End of the world” almost exclusively close-ups. Any textbook on camera and installation skills after viewing can be thrown into the trash.
On the first and very superficial acquaintance with the film, "End of the World" gives the impression discouraging. I think you could say more and more. However, only then, starting to think about what you saw, going deeper into the subtext, you begin to discover the story differently, to understand its depth and the power of the method in which the tape is executed.
The plot of “The End of the World” refers to the archetypal situation, the return home. It is one of the four eternal subjects of world art, according to Borges. Camille's first soundtrack set the mood of the song: "Home Is Where It Hurts." Home is where it hurts. How well and accurately noted.
We watch one Sunday of this family, listening to the monologues of each of the characters, trying to understand. The space of the film is inhabited by an eccentric mother, always and annoyingly chatting about the same thing (Natalie Bai), whose quirks hide a deep loneliness; Sister Suzanne (Lea Seydoux), forced to vegetate in the quiet pool of her native town and sacrifice her own youth to her mother; Brother Antoine (Vincán Casel), rude, angry, busy all his life with hard physical labor; Brother Katarina’s wife (Marion Cotillard), quiet, downtrodden and unhappy.
Form again becomes Dolan’s best way of expressing content. Any stylistic feature of the film reveals its ideological meaning.
Interesting color scheme of the painting. Reality is characterized by dark, deliberately darkened tones. Memories in which Louis sometimes falls, on the contrary, contrast with the general background with bright colors, as if they were the only refuge in the prevailing darkness. The final scene is painted by the setting sun in peach, orange tones, as if pricking the space and highlighting the characters differently, showing their authentic faces.
The abundance of close-ups narrows the frame space, creates a general atmosphere of tightness, suffocation, in which all the characters of the “End of the World” are placed. A universal metaphor of the cell, the lack of space, the inability to breathe is created.
Compositional craving for successive monologues emphasizes, perhaps, the main motive of the work – the impossibility of dialogue. Dolan's heroes talk all the time, but about themselves and for themselves. No one can hear anyone. Nobody understands anyone. He does not try to hear or understand. The culmination of the action, judging by the logic of the plot, would be a dialogue between Louis and Antoine in the car, who would talk heart to heart for the first time in twelve years. We are waiting for this dialogue throughout the film, hoping that it will clarify a lot. But in the end, everything turns into a series of meaningless phrases and arguments about the incident at the airport. Dialogue is crumbled. Language cannot bring people together. Climax is impossible. Therefore, there is no action as such.
Another dominant mood of the End of the World is impossibility. Louis tries to get into an old, ruined house, with which he is connected by something very important, but never goes there. Twice the characters gather at the kitchen table in the hope of organizing a family dinner, but twice it is not destined to take place. Lunch as a symbol of unity, family harmony does not happen in the film. Both times it is broken down.
Arguments and screams are the only communication language available to the characters. Fighting and shouting become the only pseudo-culmination of action.
Watching the weekends of these people, delving into their fates, you understand the duality of motives and motives of Louis. On the one hand, he was the one who broke out in people, egoistically forgetting about his relatives, not helping them and not even communicating for a long time. The envy on the part of the brother is obvious: the working man can never forgive the man of art his "chosenness." One’s life was at the expense of the other’s. As a man, Antoine is not interesting to his brother. Suzanne is not interested, and her mother is not. Louis would be happy to find happiness among them, but here he is uncomfortable, everything is burdened, everything is boring. On the other hand, we realize the loneliness of the hero in his family, surrounded, in essence, by strangers and indifferent people who do not hear him and do not understand him. This is the latest surreal scene: Louis would fight in his house like that bird, agonizingly trying to fly out and crashing against walls every time. Yeah, he's different. No better or worse, just different. He will not be forgiven for this.
The same “other” looks like the daughter-in-law of the hero Katarina, the second most important heroine of the film, brilliantly played by Marion Cotillard. She is the only one who looks like a kindred spirit of Louis, the only one who is ready to understand him, but, alas, Katarina cannot help him. The unexplained pull of these two characters becomes one of the key pitfalls of the plot of the tape. This is the pull of two creatures who saw in each other reflection. Constantly trying to understand the nature of this attraction, juxtaposing the two characters, you come to the unexpected conclusion: staying at home, Louis would be forever in the position of Katarina. Without leaving the provinces, he would find himself in the position of an equally downtrodden and persecuted creature who does not even have the right to vote. So Louis did the right thing? So his path could not have been different?
"It's Only the End of the World" is a microscope study of the modern family. The topic is eternal, but more bitter than ever. The family can become both the main wealth of a person’s life, his refuge from the storms of the outside world, and a prison that will enslave him, destroy him. Ideally, it should be an oasis of mutual understanding and cohesion, but how often it turns out to be a community of strangers forced to torture each other with cohabitation under one roof. In the film, alienation has reached catastrophic limits. Blood ties no longer hold anyone together. As it turns out, there is nothing to talk about. And the most important thing is not to report. They won't.
It's not a drama. This is a modern family, as it is, of thousands in provincial towns around the world. It's just the end of the world.
The amazing thing is that so much has been said in the film, in fact it is entirely based on monologue dialogues, and in the end, personally, I can hardly speak. There is a beautiful category of films, after which there is no desire to communicate and speak. You know that feeling when you go with a friend after another movie, and between you - a beautiful, untroubled silence that once again confirms the quality of what you saw? This review is about that.
I do not want to make a detailed review, because the picture is not new and more than enough excellent reviews have been left before me. I just want to point out one thing: the ending. I have never seen such a beautiful spectacle in every sense in my life. Antoine for the first time in the whole picture sympathize with Susan (I hope for the most correct reproduction of the name) worry, because throughout the film it seems that the heroine is about to fall into the abyss, and the words of the mother about ' the next time' I had tears. I knew there would be no next time. In such moments, you want to shout at the characters of the tape, make them not make this terrible mistake.
Perhaps someone didn’t like the end, but the amazing departure of Louis (literally) into the sunset and the dead bird... When the final song came out, I couldn’t contain my emotions. I guess it's how petty all the other problems seem when it comes to death.
The family is the grave, and their reproaches are the grave.
Family is a word that everyone in their heart understands in their own way, positively or negatively: they are loved, hated, avoided, bored or feel a sharp need for support after a long separation. For example, after 12 years, during which the successful writer Louis avoided visiting his home and meeting his brother, sister and mother. To return he is prompted by misfortune - he is mortally ill and is going to personally inform his family.
Instead of announcing his own tragedy, Louis absorbs the resentment and irritation accumulated by his mother, brother and sister during his absence. Paradoxically, but relatives are so close and at the same time incredibly far from each other. These two opposing feelings somehow try to coexist in them, so that at times they become the only possible compromise for a relationship, and sometimes it ends tragically. Each of the heroes lives in his own world, with his demons. Characters often look inward rather than outward. Vivid dialogue reflects the pain of family members, each of whom blames himself for something and escapes from a devouring sense of guilt. And the most important words will not be heard: after all, everyone prefers to erratically, swear, shock or simply remain silent, as long as they are left alone.
This film is a set of dialogues with everyone. Dialogues, which are essentially monologues that reveal an important feature of specific characters. And for all individuals, the reason for their behavior is so important that inattention to this reason is equivalent to the end of the world. Therefore, in the finale, each hero experiences his own personal end of the world.
The film is based on a play by French playwright Jean-Luc Lagarce, who died of AIDS in 1995. Five years before his death, he wrote this almost autobiographical play, on the basis of which Xavier Dolan staged his new chamber drama, It's Only the End of the World. Built on endless monologues, it would look theatrical on the screen, but Dolan systematically did not destroy the fourth wall, shooting actors close-ups and skillfully arranging the action so that the eyes of the character and the viewer coincided. The film is verbose, but subtly bypassing direct conversations about death, gays, AIDS – these taboo themes are encrypted in the text of Lagarce and the clip aesthetics of the “Dolan” flashbacks that roll on Louis.
Louis, performed by Gaspar Ulliel, is melancholy. The heroine Seydu, despite her rebellious nature, is sensual and vulnerable. The character of Cassel is rude, and during the meeting with his brother even cruel, which has its reasons hidden from the superficial glances of others. Cotillard’s daughter-in-law is timid and awkward, but still dares to say what she thinks without hiding it deep within herself, as others do. And, of course, hiding under the mask of impulsivity her experiences and emotions, performed by Natalie Bai. Each of them adds its colors to the director’s palette of emotions.
Dolan tells a story that happens always and everywhere, masterfully moving from realism to metaphor to perspective. Then it becomes clear: Louis to each of the inhabitants of the house is God, to whom they constantly call, and in response they receive only a few words. They hoped that this reclusive man, who proudly renounced all human values in the name of a writing career, would come and bring meaning to their useless and joyless lives. Louis does not bring relief to anyone, including himself. God does not exist, and the sons of God are left to be torn apart by their inner demons. Towards the end of the picture, a torrential rain falls on the house in which the action unfolds, but even in his ark with his own Noah, no one will survive if God is dead.
Whether this is a biased-positive attitude, or it is again amazing ...
The second work without favorite Canadian actors and the second based on the play. In the work of Jean-Luc Lagarce, the director found all the themes close to his heart, wrapped them in a contrasting, recognizable wrapper of his style and suggests thinking about loneliness.
They forgot how to talk to him
When you do not see loved ones for a long time, they sooner or later become farther away than strangers on the plane. You forget how to behave, you choose words, you look away, you are afraid to give false hope. The hero introduces us to his family, but in fact, he recognizes them again. These people have become so alien that he can not even imagine their reaction.
To increase general misunderstanding, Dolan provided his painting with "Bergman" close-ups. Here the camera freezes on the languid, hypnotic look of Ulliel or the shy half-smile of Marion Cotillard. The angle changes - we see a slightly rude facial expressions of a dissatisfied brother and mother, lifting her chin with dignity. Emotions are so tangible that you want to touch them. And the director’s talent, bordering on his superpower, to select soundtracks that harmoniously blend into the plot, once again confirms how subtly the author feels his work.
You just fill the void.
The camera action allows you to fully plunge into the microcosm of one family. Each of them is unhappy in their own way, each lacks soul building blocks, and Louis connects their pain and loneliness together. It is no coincidence that the plot is divided into separate parts - the time of mother, sister, brother and common minutes.
All reflections begin after a piercing, desperate ending. While watching time is not enough even to breathe, so dense and tense scenario – greedy catch gestures and words of the characters, trying not to miss the elusive essence.
...a movie is true 24 frames per second (c)
Don't look for a double bottom. Juste la fin du monde is not full of philosophical allusions and ambiguities. The film tells a simple, tragic story. It is clear, but at the same time unsaid and puts a symbolic allegory in the form of an ellipsis.
Do not pass by this film, if you appreciate the cool acting, quality directing, great cast, a successful soundtrack, etc.
I’ve seen this movie 10 times, if not more. I think you can watch it endlessly.
The film is incredibly beautiful. Yeah, literally. Combinations of colors in the frame, close-ups, poses of heroes, light and shadow, clothes, music - all are matched with amazing talent. A vivid, colorful, thoughtful picture in each frame. This is spectacular.
The cast is absolutely stunning. Casting is amazingly talented: the actors merge into one whole, like a real family. The close-ups give the impression that you are also visiting this house and watching what is happening. The effect of being present is incredible. Bravo.
And finally, about the plot: the main character Louis is terminally ill and wants to tell his family about it. But that's not the worst part.
A magical, poignant, descouring film about family relationships, loneliness and intimacy, love and rejection, sensitivity and cruelty, long-standing grievances and forgiveness, honesty and hypocrisy.
Each viewer experiences the film in his own way, each has his own ideas about the world, struggle, goodness, love, etc. Someone recognizes themselves in the characters, someone thinks their behavior is absolutely illogical and absurd.
In this film, the protagonist first appears to me as a weak and helpless kitten. At some point, he even begins to infuriate from the fact that he swallows everything that pours out of the mouths of his family members, with a sweet smile and a saddish-dropping look. But at some point, the subjective evaluation of what is happening stops, you no longer think: ' Guy, why are you so spinless?' With his mysterious silence, he attracts attention (male mystery is the weakness of many women), then you are hinted that he has a deadly disease and everything - the character comes alive before your eyes.
Simple and damn effective technique - ' this can happen to anyone '
His silence, his glance and his smile do not acquire spinelessness, but rather blissful condescension, because he understands the meaning and value of time more than anyone present. He constantly looks at the clock, because he has an important meeting in the evening, apparently, a matter of life and death.
In a room full of baby clothes, Louis experiences the moment of no return that he feels when he touches the mattress: everything beautiful that happened to him in 34 years will never come back and will never happen again. Like him, he will never come back and never again.
His silence is a sign of consent. Not because he's bad, left his family, didn't come in 12 years, no. This is an agreement on what will happen very soon. And this humility and understanding make him boundlessly strong, allowing him to relate to everything in the world as ' it's just'.
This is a revelation film. Like all the movies in Xavier Dolan.
In this film, there is his personality - to make films about the 2000s, as nostalgia for his youth, where there were mobile phones and from the radio released hits of the time, like Dragostea Din Tei. You start projecting on your past as well. Although not so far away, but very pleasant. Also his love for bright shadows and tattered nail polish in women. These little things for some reason cause a slight smile on the face.
There is a reference to Ingmar Bergman's film "Persona" in shooting techniques. Close-ups, when the whole frame is filled with two human faces, clinging to each other in an effort to hear the secret thoughts of the other. It is a pleasure to watch the film from a perspective. Interesting.
The narrative of the film is felt, melodic, but inflated towards the approach of the final. Then there's the sediment. The precipitation of this incandescence and misunderstanding that you come into contact with when watching this film. The picture gives the ground for reflection, but does not give an answer, it shows how it is and does not give a solution. Everyone decides.
A psychological drama that reveals characters and gives greater insight into people and their behavior.
Winner of the second most important award of the Cannes Film Festival - Grand Prix in 2016 (Director Xavier Dolan is not 30, and he already receives many awards and has world fame). The film caused mixed reviews from different groups of people, which is a little mysterious, does the views of jury members and critics differ because the ratings on Rotten tomatoes are very low for the festival picture.
Writer Louis, who has not seen his family for 12 years because he writes abroad, learned that he would soon die of a deadly disease and yet decided to visit the family without him. A family drama film. It is devoted to it completely and completely without any discrepancies, so you can easily follow the history, you can not say that it is just so unusual, but not cliched. The staging is very simple and easy, nothing happens other than family disputes, a homely, but tense atmosphere is always maintained, and in some moments family quarrels (especially when all family members gather in one place - mainly for food) reach their peak and real scandals occur, but not for small things, but for very weighty reasons that even not everyone can understand, they support liveliness and dynamics.
How hard it is, when the family is constantly missing one person puzzle feels unfinished, everyone always worries because they are constantly in the dark, where is their only missing cog that could put together a whole system and all would live happily. Such cases have always been not uncommon, and today have become more frequent, when people fuss, travel on business and in search of a better life choose a career putting family on the back burner. The family is not just people change become more depressed, sharp, brothers and sisters live with a feeling of almost chronic sadness the feeling that there is no loved one from birth leaves its imprint. Louis wants to report his misfortune, but family members have their own problems, he also can not find a reason to say everything. The protagonist is not sentimental, so he does not like tenderness and other things, when he returns after a long absence, he is also in no hurry to throw himself into his arms. But just a man of that character doesn't mean he doesn't like family. Whatever the house in which he was born - these are the strongest memories of any person, he is susceptible to nostalgic attack, remember things with which important moments, memories from childhood and much more were associated. Louis has already indirectly caused a lot of pain, no one can imagine for so long what could lead him to the house, so there is an atmosphere of despair, it is impossible to believe that the happiness of seeing a relative will last so long and Louis do not believe that he came from love (most of all this is proved by the scene in the car of Louis and his brother). Family is the most loved and important people in life and they do not need to hurt. We need to avoid that in every way possible. How do you do that in a situation like this? You need to notify about your illness so that there are no surprises. It is necessary to explain, but only those people who understand and forgive, of course, it is not easy to do this, because it is necessary to turn everything quietly so as not to disturb the whole house. A brother is a person who can be trusted with absolutely everything, who will understand - although not immediately, it may be difficult to explain everything, but you need to act, because life is fleeting, and especially in such situations.
Whatever happens, you do not need to disturb relatives and friends, if necessary, then in some moments even resort to lies, just give hope even if you know that all this is a lie, so as not to disturb dear people in vain. One of the highest manifestations of love is not to make unhappy the people you cherish. And maybe after such situations it is better to just leave, knowing that it will not be better, there will be no good happy family anymore and death is inevitable.
In the film, a bird flying around the house appears very symbolically, which in a few seconds dies this personification of the transience of time, we as birds fly away our time filled with movement, but it will not be long at all, so your time should be appreciated, and most importantly, it is more important to pay attention and time to your family there is nothing more important!
Such a simple but important idea is conveyed to us in this case. Maybe it’s because the film is too simple and critics don’t like it? But it was quite light, sensual, intelligent, unusual and not pretentious, which attracted the attention of the jury of Cannes. But the truth among the many family paintings that come out often lately, this one stands out and, despite the appearance, is quite deep, capable of leaving an imprint on your heart. And great music will remind you of the movie again and again!
8 out of 10
I love movies about loneliness - maybe it somehow echoes my life, but if I understand that the hero who lives in it is at the center (I don't want to say suffers from it, because this is not always the case), then it often resonates in my heart.
Like any Dolan movie, this one is also about love. It’s so different in his work, but it’s always so vivid that you start to feel the same emotions as the characters. Louis arrives with his family 12 years after separation. A family they once loved. Will he tell me why he's here after all these years? How will this day go in the family circle?
Some fans of Xavier Dolan were disappointed - he was charged with the lack of bright colors that are so used to seeing in his films, and the abundance of close-ups, and static plot, and much more. What some people didn’t like was admired by others. I consider myself one of the latter. First of all, I love theater very much, and the plot is based on a theatrical play about one day of the family, and according to the laws of the genre it is almost impossible to bring the action out. Secondly, the gloom and lack of bright colors emphasize the tragedy of what is happening. Third, the abundance of close-ups allows you to read & #39; emotions of family members, instantly catch any changes.
The picture keeps in suspense all the time. When you wait for the hero to talk about the purpose of his visit, you just start clenching your fingers and say to yourself: '. Well... Well... No, here it is...' And you already dream that catharsis finally comes.
Gaspar Ulliel played an incredible game here, proving once again that a good game does not have to include many words. Pain, confusion, emptiness, the question in his eyes - everything was immediately read.
Of all the heroes, I was most impressed by the heroine Marion Cotillard. She, a gentle and kind woman, almost immediately understood why Louis had come, being unfamiliar with him before this meeting. The scene of establishing contact between the characters, when they both seem to have fallen out of reality, sitting next to each other and looking at each other, is just magical.
There were also beautiful scenes of flashbacks of the hero. The director did not cheat on himself, he shot them in a clip manner (which also allowed to shake the plot). The one depicting young Louis and his boyfriend Pierre has been standing in front of me for days. Playing with light, beautiful music, which just begins to pinch the heart, the looks of the characters, their touch to each other - this can only be admired. A sense of absolute freedom. In any of his films, Dolan likes to give references to other recognized paintings by eminent directors, and this one was no exception: the handprint that Pierre leaves on the foggy glass sends greetings ' Titanic' (so beloved by Xavier as a child). This only underscored the tragedy of what is happening.
In my opinion, this is Dolan's strongest film to date. And while he may break out of a string of his stylish and challenging works, he is the most mature and profound of them all.
10 out of 10
“Those who are silent think they like to listen, but I am silent to be left alone!”
A man named Louis (Gaspar Ulliel), who has achieved certain success in the creative field, suddenly comes to the house of his relatives, where he has not been for 15 years. The arrival of Louis pleases almost all the inhabitants, but there are those who do not treat Louis very well, especially Antoine (Vincent Cassel). But even Antoine can not spoil the holiday for others, but for some reason no one wonders why Louis decided to visit them after 15 years. Meanwhile, Louis wants to tell them something, but gets into a terrible whirlpool of family relations, where everything is not all right. And Louis is faced with a choice: whether to tell them the secret for which he came, or close the door behind him and go on.
This drama was directed by Xavier Dolan. Not to say that this name is especially well-known in the masses, but in the LGBT society Dolan is respected and, being an open homosexual, made several films on this topic and they deserve mention at prestigious film forums. For the production of the film 'It's Only the End of the World' Dolan used the play of the same name by Jean-Luc Lagarce, who has a cult status in France, and some of his works were translated and staged in Russia. And the main roles were collected crazy by European standards composition: in addition to Ulliel and Cassel in the film played Marion Cotillard, Lea Seyda and Natalie Bai.
And if the film is based on the play, as mentioned above, then it should be understood that the action will be limited to only a few locations. In fact, the whole action will take place in several rooms of the house, only once Dolan and the cameraman Andre Turpin undertook the method of long frame on a moving object, when Louis and Antoine go on a small trip to the nearest city. By the way, this scene will be one of the most dramatic and emotional, and at the same time the most memorable. At the same time, it is also necessary to understand that dramatic and emotional moments in ' This is just the end of the world' there will be plenty, they will be masterfully laid out by the actors, but there will still be a place to say about this. There will be plenty of dialogue in the film, there will be a lot of clarification of relationships and simple family gossip, but they laudably reveal many features of the characters and reveal their personalities to us, so if you look closely at the picture, you will immediately make a general idea of yourself. If so, the film becomes clearer.
And now it's time to speak for the actors, because all five members deserve a certain mention. Let me start with Gaspar Ulliel. He is quite famous in France, and in Europe as a whole, but somehow he is not invited to the Ocean. His role in 'It's Only the End of the World' it's unlikely that Hollywood will turn its eyes to him, but, meanwhile, Ulliel certainly did not sit in a puddle. He remained restrained, smiled even when the situation did not contribute to the fun, but if you look into his eyes, it became obvious that he was hiding something and eating him, he would be happy to reveal his soul, but hardly anyone will understand him, even among those people who are sincerely glad to see him. Natalie Bai played a pretty role. She tried to smooth out conflicts as much as she could, but it was noticeable that it was extremely difficult for her to restrain herself. But the heroine of Bai will be remembered for the most part with her painted smile. Compliant and good-natured girl performed by Marion Cotillard. She was herself 'Mademoiselle Modesty' Maybe not the greatest role of Marion, but it proves how different the role of Cotillard can be. Her fans will certainly be satisfied. But I can’t relate myself to the fans of Lea Seid, but in ' It’s just the end of the world' I liked her. Even for some reason it seemed that her character is the most sincere here. Well, for the role of despotic, psychopathic, antisocial boor Vincent Cassel deserved mention for the awards. I had never seen him in such an agitated state, as if he were jealous of the fame of the hero of Ulliel, and this harassed him, and a continuous stream of anger could make any viewer hate Antoine. Fans of the tape must necessarily see their idol in this film.
Many potential viewers who paid attention to this film do not need to think about its title, it is rather metaphorical and has no relation to the films of the disaster genre. This is an exciting drama about different people, based on the numerous dialogues and emotionality and diversity of characters, of which the number is in quantitative terms ' Five' (and no more). And a separate plus highlight the acting game of Vincent Cassel. Of course, outwardly, he can give grounds to believe that he is an evil person, but to play an evil person is so talented - it is necessary to be able and Cassel can do it.
7 out of 10
If a person has not seen a single Xavier Dolan movie (like me), but only heard that name and perhaps the title “I Killed My Mother”, he will think that this is a very strange thing.
She's really weird, ridiculous. The film combines the incompatible. You are annoyed by each of the characters, but annoyed in their own way, you get tired of looking at the faces of the characters, you literally mad that no one goes to the most important and all this under a wonderful camera work, a couple of cool flashbacks and chic music, which is likely to migrate to your playlist, at least a couple of songs. From the very first shot you feel that you are not watching the film, but the performance.
I bet a lot of people will want to turn it off for 10-15 minutes, if not sooner. I had it, but the desire to know what would happen was stronger. And I didn't regret it. I saw people who talk so much, so passionately and expressively express their indignation and a sea of other wild, mixed feelings, but not hearing each other. They don’t know anything about each other. It feels like you're watching mentally ill people who've been silenced for too long, and as soon as Louis shows up, the pipe bursts. A huge stream of complaints and resentments has resulted. But what binds to this film is Louis's silence. You're wondering, why doesn't he just blurt out the truth? Most people would lose their nerves in this family. In the end, you realize there's no need to say that. It won't change anything. All you can get is a new hysteria. The only white crow in this unstable family is Catherine.
Despite how much irritation I felt when watching, you involuntarily catch yourself thinking that we rarely give out our emotions, because we are afraid to destroy relations with loved ones. As if we should always be calm, behave rationally and not violate the rules of decency. Although it sounds crazy, I would like to throw out negative emotions and not be afraid of being considered crazy.
Canadian Xavier Dolan is known by many, even if you have not seen his work, then you have heard - for sure. I finally got to my long-awaited directed work ' It's only the end of the world' This is the first Dolan film I’ve seen, and I can say that all the excitement addressed to this multi-talented actor-director-writer is fully justified.
The film is based on a play, and to some extent it even feels when watching. Through some kind of chamberedness. For his rather young years - Dolan is only 28 - he shoots very hard, seriously, with philosophy and meaning. At least that's his job. It is simple, made in simple language, about simple things - but deep, complex and very human.
Louis, a famous writer, has not seen the family for 12 years. So, he learns that he is terminally ill, and decides to say it in person at the meeting. Mother, sister and brother and wife are preparing for his arrival, everyone seems to be happy, waiting for him - but in fact, it turns out that 12 years is a very long time even for the closest people. During this time, Louis completely ceased to know his mother and older brother Antoine, and his younger sister Susannah was very young when he left. Louis is superfluous, a stranger among his loved ones. The conversations don’t stick, the brother is hot-tempered, the mother demands understanding, the sister tries to look older and smarter than she is, but it is clear that she lacks attention. The wife of her brother Katrina seems to be the most adequate person, but she is embarrassed and very shy and timid, although it is from her side that a call sounds for Louis to talk to her brother and sister, to get to know them. Louis is drawn into this whirlpool, but he feels that he is not needed here, feels an outsider, an observer. Therefore, it often falls into your memories and thoughts. And the most important question for him and for the viewer is how, at what moment, in what phrases he will say why he came.
Xavier in this work gathered all the world of French cinema: Vincent Cassel, Marion Cotillard, Lea Seydoux, Natalie Bai and Gaspard Ulliel. I especially want to mention Gaspar, who played a major role. He had the least of the lines, but most of all he had to show the audience. And he did. Through silence, through facial expressions, through views. Detachment, sadness, humility, loss. I want to note the camera work, how the characters and the environment are shown. In general, the frames and manner of shooting in the film play a large role in perception. Most of the shots are shot at the level of the actors' eyes, at height, so it feels like you're there, in this house with these people. Large frames of faces in dialogues also add to the involvement of the audience. The music in the film is a rather strange mixture of rather cheerful, as if not fitting compositions and slow, classical melodies.
In fact, this is absolutely author's film, not for the general audience. It is atmospheric and too serious, too problematic and poignant, showing mundane situations from one day of life ' imperfect' families of which there may be hundreds. It’s just that no one thinks about it, doesn’t want to think about it and notice that the closest people present themselves as neighbors – you don’t know them, you don’t know what they breathe, what they love, what they think. You may know that a person likes green and hates oranges, but that doesn’t mean anything about the person. Movies like ' It's just the end of the world & #39; just make you wonder, what do we really know about those closest to us? Do you even know?
In general, to get acquainted with the work of Dolan, this film definitely worked. Critics accepted it ambiguously, but the story is ambiguous. And the manner of execution is exceptionally literate, skillful and memorable.
There are reasons that do not concern anyone but yourself, they push you forward, into life, help you not to look back. There are many reasons why you might want to return. "