Full disclosure: my mother died of cancer, and I was around to watch her sink lower and lower over three years. So I know about the desperate self-delusions that the patients and their families go through. The vacations that are planned and never take place. The career choices that are put on hold for now, but really forever. The attempts at reconciliations between family members that don't bear fruit. I guess I've seen it all.
I liked One True Thing because it was hard to watch the family suffering, and Meryl Streep was excellent. My Breast, with Meredith Baxter, was a simpler story, but still effective. Pialat's La Gueule ouverte is perhaps the strongest of them all--the emotions that family feels are sometimes terrifying in their violence. Solveig Anspach just isn't up to this standard. The numbing scenes of chemo, and the consultations, with the doctors seeming to agree when they really don't, go on far too long. We get it, no need to underline the message.
Karin Viard has become a real star over the last few years, and she deserves the Cesar she won for this role. Julien Cottereau, with his Prince Mishkin air, impressed me as the brother who would rather be anywhere but near his sister. I just wanted to see more passion, less dumb acceptance of life's dirty tricks.
I liked One True Thing because it was hard to watch the family suffering, and Meryl Streep was excellent. My Breast, with Meredith Baxter, was a simpler story, but still effective. Pialat's La Gueule ouverte is perhaps the strongest of them all--the emotions that family feels are sometimes terrifying in their violence. Solveig Anspach just isn't up to this standard. The numbing scenes of chemo, and the consultations, with the doctors seeming to agree when they really don't, go on far too long. We get it, no need to underline the message.
Karin Viard has become a real star over the last few years, and she deserves the Cesar she won for this role. Julien Cottereau, with his Prince Mishkin air, impressed me as the brother who would rather be anywhere but near his sister. I just wanted to see more passion, less dumb acceptance of life's dirty tricks.