C’est la vie (2001) - film review

Dimitri is barely fifty when he discovers he has an incurable illness.  Leaving his home in Marseilles, he moves into a hospice where he will live out his last few weeks in the company of other terminally ill men and women.  The people he encounters make up a rich tapestry of humanity – all age groups, all races, all walks of life are represented.  His attention is drawn to a young volunteer helper, Suzanne, who is still lamenting the premature death of her husband.  Dimitri himself feels abandoned, having lost contact with his wife and young son.  The two form an instant bond and they seem to be made for one another.  But time is so short…

With his fourth full-length film, director Jean-Pierre Améris broaches a sensitive and thought-provoking subject – how we should live when we know that our time is nearly up.  Sensibly, Améris eschews mawkish sentimentality for realism, and so, whilst the film’s uncompromising approach makes it at times painful to watch, it does leave a profound impact and does cause the spectator to reflect on his own mortality and on the value of life.   The film was shot in a real hospice, whose residents (some in the last stages of a terminal illness) made up much of the supporting cast.

The film’s power lies in the quality of its acting performances.  Lead actors Jacques Dutronc and Sandrine Bonnaire bring truth and genuine pathos to a film which might otherwise have been almost too austere and depressing to watch.  Contrary to what you may think, the film is not about dying.  It is more about how we should make the best use of the little time we have – looking out in wonder at the beauty of a sunset, rejoicing in the untidy companionship of others, or relishing the thrill of a romance, before it all gets wiped out by the inescapable Night of oblivion. It’s not a sad film, but rather a strangely uplifting one.

© James Travers 2007

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