De son vivant

When Benjamin (Benoît Magimel), a drama teacher, is diagnosed with an incurable form of cancer, he, naturally enough, doesn’t want to recognize this, much to the frustration of his mother Crystal (the great Catherine Deneuve). Against her better judgement, she launches herself into an attempt to find a cure. After some wanderings and second opinions, mother and son report to the unorthodox cancer clinic of Dr Eddé (real-life oncologist Dr Gabriel Sara, superb), a friendly man who tries to reconcile his patients to the inevitable with the help of music, a cheerful attitude, and an enthusiastic nursing team. Instead of continuing to focus on healing (when this is no longer possible), patients are guided in letting go of life, however difficult that may be. Over the course of a year, Benjamin and Crystal are helped to calmly accept impending death and tie up the loose ends of the past…

‘Bercot delivers a risky, powerful and poignant melodrama… [The film] offers a great role to the always excellent Benoît Magimel, all the while paying homage (in a moving mirror image) to the resilience of the mythical star Catherine Deneuve, who restarted filming after several months of interruption following a stroke.’—Fabien Lemercier, Cineuropa