![]() ![]() But Ozon keeps this swerve into mild suspense consistent with the measured tone of the film throughout. ![]() Also, a tip-off to the police that the family are preparing to act in violation of French law brings hitches, potential criminal charges and last-minute changes to the plan. Her contact is a soft-spoken German woman (the great Hanna Schygulla) who explains the procedure with tenderness and humanity.Ĭomplications surface when André reveals his intentions to his cousin Simone (Judith Magre) and she flies in from New York to remind him that he owes it to their relatives killed in the Holocaust to continue living. She contacts a Swiss organization called The Right to Die with Dignity, and discussion of their fees yields an amusing class comment. While Emmanuèle keeps hoping that progress in her father’s recovery will lead him to change his mind, he’s a stubborn man and any reprieve is short-lived. Ozon teases out his connection to André, which is revealed without judgment, though it provides further evidence that he has looked after his own needs over those of his wife and daughters. Just the fact that he chose one sister over the other to make such a demand seems indicative of a history of pitting them against one another.Īdded strain on the family relationships comes from the unwelcome appearance of a man named Gerard (Grégory Gadebois), or “shithead,” as he’s referred to by the sisters. Flashbacks to childhood show André to have been an ambivalent parent to Emmanuèle, and Pascale suggests that since she often wished him dead, maybe their father has given her a gift. Later in the film, when André is asked if he should consult her on his decision, he sniffs: “With her heart of cement, your mother’s already dead.”Īndré is in and out of intensive care in the days that follow, but despite some signs of improvement, he tells Emmanuèle, “I want you to help me end it.” The doctor assures her that a death wish is common in such cases, and that the patients almost always choose life, but surrendering the will to live will hasten his decline. Claude is a sculptress of some renown, who worked in concrete. “Your father doesn’t look so bad,” she tells Emmanuèle and Pascale, more dismissively than reassuringly, before instructing her nurse to get her out of there. She suffers from chronic depression and Parkinson’s disease, though her absence of warmth for her husband would appear to be rooted elsewhere. ![]() The sisters return next visit with their mother Claude (Charlotte Rampling, who did some of her best work of recent decades in Under the Sand and Swimming Pool). But Emmanuèle insists that she’s not concerned: “He always recovers.” When they finally get to see him, their father is feeble, teary and struggling to speak. The invasive noise of the machine seems a challenge to the sisters’ attempt to remain calm. Considering the subject matter, Everything Went Fine is not the most affecting drama, but its honesty and intelligence keep you glued.Įmmanuèle gets a call that her 84-year-old father has been taken ill and rushes to the hospital, meeting her sister Pascale (Géraldine Pailhas) there just as André is being given an MRI to assess brain damage. ![]() His adaptation of Bernheim’s book is notable for the laser focus of its short, pared-down scenes, making this a social issues film more interested in subtly observed personal responses and family dynamics than the bigger ethical questions raised. Ozon can be an invigoratingly playful filmmaker but the virtue perhaps less appreciated about the prolific director’s work is its efficiency. Venue: Cannes Film Festival (Competition)Ĭast: Sophie Marceau, André Dussollier, Géraldine Pailhas, Charlotte Rampling, Éric Caravaca, Hanna Schygulla, Grégory Gadebois, Jacques Nolot, Judith Magre, Daniel Mesguich, Nathalie Richardĭirector-screenwriter: François Ozon, based on the book by Emmanuèle Bernheim ![]()
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