| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Melvil Poupaud | ... | ||
| Jeanne Moreau | ... |
Laura
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| Valeria Bruni Tedeschi | ... |
Jany
(as Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi)
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Daniel Duval | ... |
Le père
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| Marie Rivière | ... |
La mère
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Christian Sengewald | ... |
Sasha
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Louise-Anne Hippeau | ... |
Sophie
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Henri de Lorme | ... |
Le médecin
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Walter Pagano | ... |
Bruno
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Violetta Sanchez | ... |
L'agent
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Ugo Soussan Trabelsi | ... | |
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Alba Gaïa Kraghede Bellugi | ... |
Sophie enfant
(as Alba Gaïa Kradhege Bellugi)
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Victor Poulouin | ... |
Laurent
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Laurence Ragon | ... |
La notaire
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Thomas Gizolme | ... |
L'assistant photographe
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In Paris, thirty-one-year-old gay fashion photographer Romain learns he has a terminal cancer. As chances with chemotherapy are only slim, he chooses to live the rest of his life without treatment or mollycoddling, hiding the truth from his lover Sasha and his family, being cruel to kindly push them away. He visits his estranged grandmother Laura for a few days and has a small talk with a waitress he chance meets along the way, a waitress who, upon a second chance meeting, asks him for an unusual favor. Romain returns to Paris where he privately puts his affairs in order and awaits the end. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil / revised by statmanjeff
The first thing that strikes me as very unusual about this movie is that the main character is gay, and that that is not the subject of the movie, not even an issue. I don't know of any other movie like that.
Having said this, let's leave the subject of homosexuality, just like the film does, and not scare heterosexuals away. Of course the subject of the movie, saying goodbye to life, isn't new, neither original. But sometimes it isn't the story itself, but the way it is told that makes it worthwhile. To my opinion Ozon is very good storyteller. I think tenderness, and the love for people and for life itself must have inspired him a lot.
Some scene's could be seen as provocative and politically incorrect, but the way they are woven into the story makes them credible and the way they are filmed makes them just beautiful. Ozon has a way of filming sex scene's as what they are; a nice part of everyday life.
The movie left me moved, but not sad.