(September 11, 2016 – Toronto, ON) Young Québec actor-director-screenwriter Xavier Dolan walked away from this year’s Cannes Film Festival with the coveted Grand Prix for his all-star film Juste la fin du monde, aka It’s Only the End of the World. Toronto filmgoers will have five chances to see the wunderkind’s latest feature startung today when it makes its North American Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival® (TIFF).
Based on the play by Jean-Luc Lagarce, who was recognized as one of France’s foremost modern playwrights only after his untimely death due to AIDS-related illness, Juste la fin du monde centres on Louis (Gaspard Ulliel) is a terminally ill writer who has come home after 12 years of absence to tell his family he is dying. It’s the proverbial prodigal’s return, except that Louis’ family is not so ready to forgive him for his desertion. His arrival precipitates chaos. His mother (Nathalie Baye) has tried to keep her family together despite their struggles in the wake of Louis’ departure, and his loud, tempestuous siblings Antoine and Suzanne (Vincent Cassel and Léa Seydoux) and introverted sister-in-law Catherine (Marion Cotillard) have their own crosses and grudges to bear.
The group commences deconstructing a life’s worth of damaged family dynamics, and the gifted writer becomes a mostly silent observer who can’t get a word in edgewise to share the news he came to tell. As they all strive to — for once — be honest with each other, they create an emotional huis clos that offers them the chance to heal the wounds and fill the void.
Juste la fin du monde screens tonight at 9:15 at the Tiff Bell Lightbox 1, at 9:30PM at the Tiff Bell Lightbox 2 and at 10PM at the Tiff Bell Lightbox 3. Early risers can catch it at 8:30AM tomorrow and the film’s last festival screening is next Sunday, September 18 at 9:30pm at the Tiff Bell Lightbox 2.
