Cert 15 | ★★★★✩
Prolific French filmmaker François Ozon (Swimming Pool, 8 Women, By the Grace of God) takes on the subject of euthanasia in his latest drama. Based on a memoir by Ozon’s late writing partner, Emmanuèle Bernheim (Swimming Pool), the film stars Sophie Marceau (The Party, Anna Karenina, The World Is Not Enough), André Dussollier (Amelie, A Very Long Engagement) and Géraldine Pailhas (The Butcher’s Daughter).
The story is based on real life events surrounding Bernheim and her father, the renowned French Jewish industrialist André Bernheim. Her mother is the famous sculptress Claude de Soria, who is played in the film by acclaimed British actor Charlotte Rampling.
When the elderly André (Dussollier) suffers a debilitating stroke, he begs his daughter Emmanuèle (Sophie Marceau) to help end his life with dignity by allowing him to travel to Switzerland, where euthanasia is legal. At first refusing to envisage going through with it, Manue, as she is referred to by her loved ones, gradually comes to terms with the idea.
TOUT S EST BIEN PASSE Photo 3©Carole BETHUEL Mandarin Production–Foz
Ozon handles the subject of euthanasia with commendable honestly, tenderness and a fair amount of lightheartedness (Image: Carole Bethuel / Mandarin Production–Foz)
Later, Manue and her sister Pascale (Pailhas) begin to feel the true impact their father’s demands are starting to have on the whole family. Things are further complicated when Gerard (Grégory Gadebois), André’s violent and troubled former partner attempts to throw a spanner in the works out of revenge for being frozen out by the family.
Handling the subject of euthanasia with commendable honestly, tenderness and a fair amount of lightheartedness, Ozon has delivered yet another tour de force in this robustly acted and hugely engaging drama. Elevated by Bernheim’s impeccably paced storytelling and Marceau’s peerless delivery, Everything Went Fine is easily one of Ozon’s best films yet. And while his own connection to Bernheim adds a layer of gravitas to the proceedings, his film still manages to feel sufficiently detached from its subjects to allow for a sober and unsentimental treatment of a rather thorny subject matter.
Overall Everything Went Fine feels like a fitting and respectful tribute from Ozon to his late friend and collaborator. And while the film is about so much more than assisted dying, it remains one of the bravest and most honest films on the subject to date.
