Simply the End of the World

For many years now, successful actor Louis (Gaspard Ulliel) has been away from home. He had as little contact with his brother (Vincent Cassel) as he did with his mother (Nathalie Baye). And he barely knows his little sister (Leà Seydoux), really. Still, there's a lot of excitement when he finally comes to visit after twelve years. There are hugs, some perfunctory chit-chat and he finally meets his sister-in-law (Marion Cottilard). But it's not long before old conflicts erupt again and it becomes clear how far Louis has drifted away from his family. He'd like to get close to them again - but he's carrying a heavy secret that he just can't talk about.

With Simply the End of the World, Xavier Dolan, acclaimed as a directing wunderkind, has once again adapted a play for the screen after Don't Say Who You Are! The 27-year-old French-Canadian, who not only directs and writes many of his films but also stars in them himself, has this time taken on a play by Jean-Luc Lagarce. The result is very good on an acting level, dramaturgically interesting, but lacks the intensity that made Dolan so special in earlier films like Laurence Anyways or I Killed My Mother. The realization is consistent to the play, but still seems somehow soulless.

The problem is that there are no real sympathetic characters, and over the course of 99 minutes the viewer is forced to watch people who either call each other names or who are such strangers to each other that their conversations sound petty and very strained. That may be very authentic. And unadorned, too. But it is definitely not entertaining. And that's exactly what a film, for all its pretensions, should be. Conflicts are broken open for which there is no resolution in the end. Events are brought up without being fleshed out. As a viewer, you're just left guessing too often and get the feeling that you're just being slammed with problems from people you don't really care about.

This may work very well in theatre because of the connection that is created by the direct proximity between the players and the audience. But in a movie, it's a different story. Simply the End of the World is far from being a bad film. But it's also not the rousing drama that the stage version seems to be. Despite the great actors and the director, who is really talented, I only give it a "worth seeing" rating: Worth seeing with some reservations

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp