''It's Only the End of the World'' (french: Juste la fin du monde) is a 2016 drama film written, edited and directed by

Xavier Dolan Xavier Dolan-Tadros (; born 20 March 1989) is a Canadian filmmaker, actor and costume designer. He began his career as a child actor in commercials before directing several arthouse feature films. He first received international acclaim in 2 ...

. The film is based on the

play of the same name Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * Pla ...

Jean-Luc Lagarce Jean-Luc Lagarce (14 February 1957 – 30 September 1995) was a French actor, theatre director and playwright.Gaspard Ulliel Gaspard Thomas Ulliel (; 25 November 198419 January 2022) was a French actor. He was known for having portrayed the young Hannibal Lecter in ''Hannibal Rising'' (2007), fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent in the biopic '' Saint Laurent'' (2014 ...

Nathalie Baye Nathalie Marie Andrée Baye (born 6 July 1948) is a French film, television and stage actress. She began her career in 1970 and has appeared in more than 80 films. A ten-time César Award nominee, her four wins were for '' Every Man for Himself' ...

Marion Cotillard Marion Cotillard (; born 30 September 1975) is a French actress, film producer, singer, and environmentalist who is widely known for her roles in independent films and blockbusters in both European and Hollywood productions. She has received ...

Léa Seydoux Léa Hélène Seydoux-Fornier de Clausonne (; born 1 July 1985) is a French actor. Known for her roles in both French cinema and in Hollywood she's received various accolades including the Cannes Film Festival's Trophée Chopard in 2009 as well ...

, and

Vincent Cassel Vincent Cassel (; ; born 23 November 1966) is a French actor. He first achieved recognition for his performance as a troubled History of the Jews in France, French Jewish youth in Mathieu Kassovitz's 1995 film ''La Haine (Hate)'', for which he ...

. It is about a young playwright who reunites with his family after a 12-year absence to inform them he is going to die. A co-production of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, it was shot in Montreal and

Laval, Quebec Laval (; ) is a city in Quebec, Canada. It is in the southwest of the province, north of Montreal. It is the largest suburb of Montreal, the third-largest city in the province after Montreal and Quebec City, and the thirteenth largest city in C ...

, beginning in 2015. The small core of actors were selected against

typecasting In film, television, and theatre, typecasting is the process by which a particular actor becomes strongly identified with a specific character, one or more particular roles, or characters having the same traits or coming from the same social or ...

, with Dolan and Cotillard challenged by the awkwardness in dialogue inherent in Lagarce's work. The film made its world premiere at the

2016 Cannes Film Festival The 69th Cannes Film Festival was held from 11 to 22 May 2016. Australian director George Miller was the President of the Jury for the main competition. French actor Laurent Lafitte was the host for the opening and closing ceremonies. On 15 Marc ...

, where it competed for the

Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...

and received mixed reactions from critics. The film won the Cannes Grand Prix - making Dolan the second Canadian director to receive this award, and the Ecumenical Jury Prize at Cannes. It also won six

Canadian Screen Awards The Canadian Screen Awards (french: link=no, Les prix Écrans canadiens) are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media (web series) p ...

, including Best Motion Picture, and three

César Awards The César Award is the national film award of France. It is delivered in the ' ceremony and was first awarded in 1976. The nominations are selected by the members of twelve categories of filmmaking professionals and supported by the French Min ...

, including

Best Director Best Director is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards. It may refer to: Film awards * AACTA Award for Best Direction * Academy Award for Best Director * BA ...

Plot

In a place identified only as "Somewhere," Louis, a 34-year-old gay playwright dealing with a

terminal illness Terminal illness or end-stage disease is a disease that cannot be cured or adequately treated and is expected to result in the death of the patient. This term is more commonly used for progressive diseases such as cancer, dementia or advanced he ...

, takes a short flight to his home to reunite with his family, whom he has not seen in 12 years. His younger sister, Suzanne, has little memory of him. Upon arriving at the house, Louis' mother Martine is surprised to realize Louis has never met his brother Antoine's wife Catherine, as Louis was not present at their wedding. Catherine begins telling Louis about her and Antoine's children, nervously stammering to explain why they named one of their boys Louis, after Louis and Antoine's father. Antoine creates tension, snapping that Louis is uninterested in hearing about their children. Louis talks on the telephone to someone, saying he plans to tell his family about his impending death and then leave, while expressing uncertainty as to how they will react. Louis and Catherine awkwardly meet in the hallway and attempt to apologize to each other for the tense conversations. Louis remarks he assumes Antoine has attempted to give her a negative opinion of Louis. Catherine replies Antoine actually speaks little of Louis, and Antoine feels Louis has little to no interest in their lives, and she openly suspects this belief may have some truth in it. She questions Louis if he knows what Antoine does for a living, explaining he makes tools in a nearby location. Martine also lectures Louis about taking responsibility in the family, saying his status, success and courage gives him some authority. She learns that he has moved from the address where she had been sending his mail, and he had not told her where he currently lives. Louis expresses interest in seeing the family's former house, citing nostalgia, which bewilders the others who regard it as a ruin. The family argument that follows, puts an end to his wish. He rides with Antoine to the shops for cigarettes and makes small talk which angers Antoine who is sick of all the secrecy surrounding Louis's life and the reason as to why he's returned. He later tells Louis that his former lover Pierre died about a week ago from cancer. During a meal, Louis promises to visit home more, and tells Suzanne she is welcome to visit him. However, it soon becomes apparent Louis intends to leave. Seizing upon this, Antoine tries to remove him from the house insisting on driving him to the airport, while the family shouts back at Antoine for his brutality. Antoine lashes back, saying he is tired with being treated as the family's freak. After a pause, Louis leaves without having told his family of his

prognosis Prognosis (Greek: πρόγνωσις "fore-knowing, foreseeing") is a medical term for predicting the likely or expected development of a disease, including whether the signs and symptoms will improve or worsen (and how quickly) or remain stabl ...

Production

Development

Canadian director

said that when he originally read

Jean-Luc Lagarce Jean-Luc Lagarce (14 February 1957 – 30 September 1995) was a French actor, theatre director and playwright.Juste la fin du monde'', he felt "lost," citing its style and the aggressive nature of the characters. He later re-read it, saying "One day, I don't know what it was, I pulled it off my shelf and suddenly understood and appreciated this weird and verbose writing style". Dolan described the extensive work required to adapt the stage play for film: Dolan denied the film was semi-autobiographical, asserting "I’m not dying. I’m not misunderstood by my family". Star

said Dolan wrote not only the French dialogue but the English

subtitles Subtitles and captions are lines of dialogue or other text displayed at the bottom of the screen in films, television programs, video games or other visual media. They can be transcriptions of the screenplay, translations of it, or informati ...

. Plans for Dolan to direct a film titled ''Juste la fin du monde'', with Ulliel, Baye, Cotillard,

and

starring, were announced in April 2015. Through support from

Telefilm Canada Telefilm Canada is a Crown corporation reporting to Canada's federal government through the Minister of Canadian Heritage. Headquartered in Montreal, Telefilm provides services to the Canadian audiovisual industry with four regional offices in V ...

, the film was produced by Sons of Manual's Nancy Grant and Dolan and MK2 Productions's Nathanaël Karmitz along with Sylvain Corbeil. Seville International handled the international sales of the film.

Casting

In casting the film, Dolan claimed he did not contemplate personally playing Louis, citing the older age of French actor

Gaspard Ulliel Gaspard Thomas Ulliel (; 25 November 198419 January 2022) was a French actor. He was known for having portrayed the young Hannibal Lecter in ''Hannibal Rising'' (2007), fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent in the biopic '' Saint Laurent'' (2014 ...

as possibly giving Louis more dimensions. Ulliel was willing in working with Dolan and attempted to meet with him several times to discuss making a film together. Other choices for actors defied

, as

was selected to play a shy character. Baye took the role of Martine, citing Dolan's typical portrayal of mother figures in his films, which she regarded as remarkable. Baye had previously collaborated with Dolan on his 2012 ''

Laurence Anyways ''Laurence Anyways'' is a 2012 Canadian Romance film, romantic drama film written, directed and edited by Xavier Dolan. The film competed in the ''Un Certain Regard'' section at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival where Suzanne Clément won the Un Cer ...

''.

Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...

began on 26 May 2015 in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

. Scenes were shot in

, where a set was established in a small and inconspicuous house in the suburbs. Dolan explained that he believed the story is set in Europe, but gave it a small Canadian veneer. In the bungalow, the crew set up in the basement, with Mexican director

Guillermo del Toro Guillermo del Toro Gómez (; born October 9, 1964) is a Mexican filmmaker, author, and actor. He directed the Academy Award–winning fantasy films ''Pan's Labyrinth'' (2006) and ''The Shape of Water'' (2017), winning the Academy Awards for Be ...

inspecting the equipment. Cassel reported sets and lighting were prepared one year before the cast arrived for filming. Seydoux described her experience working with Dolan as a loving one, saying "It is always a romance. I was very excited when I met Xavier for the first time. For me, he is a real artist. I can say, I am kind of fascinated". Cotillard described her part as challenging, citing her character's "flood of incoherences", made up of "mostly aborted sentences and redundancies. At first I was terrified by my text and then I understood that her monologues were like the sound of silence". Baye was initially taken aback by the heavy makeup applied to her for her character, and took time to adjust. After only five days of filming, shooting was delayed in August 2015 while Seydoux departed to work on the film ''

Spectre Spectre, specter or the spectre may refer to: Religion and spirituality * Vision (spirituality) * Apparitional experience * Ghost Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Spectre'' (1977 film), a made-for-television film produced and writ ...

. In selecting his soundtrack, Dolan sought "this sort of happy, sad, nostalgia-filled texture". Hence, he chose " I Miss You" by

Blink-182 Blink-182 (stylized as blink-182) is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Poway, California in 1992. Their current lineup consists of bassist/vocalist Mark Hoppus, guitarist/vocalist Tom DeLonge, and drummer Travis Barker. Though their ...

and "

Natural Blues "Natural Blues" is a song by American electronic musician Moby. It was released on March 6, 2000, as the fifth single from his fifth studio album, '' Play'' (1999). The song is built around vocals sampled from "Trouble So Hard" by American folk ...

" by

Moby Richard Melville Hall (born September 11, 1965), known professionally as Moby, is an American musician, songwriter, singer, producer, and animal rights activist. He has sold 20 million records worldwide. AllMusic considers him to be "among the ...

. The film was dedicated to the deceased Canadian costume designer

François Barbeau François Barbeau (July 27, 1935 – January 28, 2016) was an award-winning Canadian costume designer. He was a professor at the National Theatre School of Canada and the Université du Québec à Montréal who worked on over 700 productions in Qu ...

Release

Plans for Diaphana/MK2 to release the film in France, while

Entertainment One Entertainment One Ltd., trading as eOne, is an American-owned Canadian multinational entertainment company. Based in Toronto, Ontario, the company is primarily involved in the acquisition, distribution, and production of films and television se ...

and Les Films Seville would distribute the film in Canada, were announced in April 2015. The first image from the film, featuring Cotillard, was released on 13 June 2015. The film had its world premiere at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

on 19 May 2016. It was featured in competition at the

Sydney Film Festival The Sydney Film Festival is an annual competitive film festival held in Sydney, Australia, usually over 12 days in June. A number of awards are given, the top one being the Sydney Film Prize. the festival's director is Nashen Moodley. Histo ...

in June 2016. The film was also screened at the

2016 Toronto International Film Festival The 41st annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from 8 to 18 September 2016. The first announcement of films to be screened at the festival took place on 26 July. Almost 400 films were shown. Awards The festival's final awards were ...

. The film was released in Quebec and France on 21 September 2016, with its Toronto release following on 23 September. In 2017, the film was in competition for the Grand Jury Prize at Italy's

Riviera International Film Festival The Riviera International Film Festival (RIFF) is an international film festival dedicated to filmmakers under 35 that takes place every year in Sestri Levante. Since the 2018 edition, there is a section entirely dedicated to documentaries RIFF ...

. In Canada, it was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

and

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

on 7 February 2017. It was released in the United States on 30 June 2017, by

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

Reception

Critical response

The film premiered to polarized reactions from festival audiences and critics, with '' Vanity Fair'' calling it "the most disappointing film at Cannes". ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' called it "a cold and deeply unsatisfying" film and ''Variety'' dubbed it "a frequently excruciating dramatic experience". Despite this, the film received positive reviews from critics, including ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' calling it a "brilliant, stylised and hallucinatory evocation of family dysfunction". Peter Howell of the ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'' wrote the film "deserves more applause than boos" and commended Dolan on his calm response to negative reviews. Cassel also argued the

melodrama A modern melodrama is a dramatic work in which the plot, typically sensationalized and for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodramas typically concentrate on dialogue that is often bombastic or exces ...

that some critics derided was appropriate to convey the family's collapse. In Canada, of '' La Presse'' gave the film three and a half stars, commending

for giving one of his best performances and cinematographer

André Turpin André Turpin (born 1966) is a French Canadian cinematographer, film director, and screenwriter. Career As a cinematographer, he has won over a dozen awards, including Canadian Screen Awards for Best Cinematography his work on Xavier Dolan's f ...

for superb visuals. T'cha Dunlevy of the ''

Montreal Gazette The ''Montreal Gazette'', formerly titled ''The Gazette'', is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Three other daily English-language newspapers shuttered at various times during the second half of th ...

'' awarded it four stars, praising Turpin and "Dolan's daring cinematic approach to the subject matter", noting the number of close-ups. On 7 December 2016, the film was named to the Toronto International Film Festival's annual Canada's Top 10 list. In France, Isabelle Regnier wrote in ''

Le Monde ''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...

'' that the film far exceeded low expectations, and was one of Dolan's strongest works. Thierry Chèze of ''

L'Express ''L'Express'' () is a French weekly news magazine headquartered in Paris. The weekly stands at the political centre in the French media landscape, and has a lifestyle supplement, ''L'Express Styles'', and a job supplement, ''Réussir''. History ...

'' found the ambition admirable, and the film's contrasts to mirror Dolan's. ''

Télérama ''Télérama'' is a weekly French cultural and television magazine published in Paris, France. The name is a contraction of its earlier title: ''Télévision-Radio-Cinéma''. Fabienne Pascaud is currently managing editor. Ludovic Desautez is dep ...

''s Louis Guichard wrote Dolan kept his style with his first all-French cast and a darker story. AlloCiné, a French cinema website, gave the film an average of 3.2/5, based on a survey of 44 French reviews. On

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds a approval rating based on reviews, with an average score of . The site's critical consensus reads, "''It's Only the End of the World'' is stocked with talent and boasts a story steeped in conflict, but the end result proves a disappointing misfire from writer-director Xavier Dolan." At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received a score of 48, based on 11 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Box office

In France, ''It's Only the End of the World'' was released to 391 screens, where it debuted at number one at the box office and sold 1,034,477 tickets. The only three prior Quebec films to surpass one million admissions in France were ''

The Decline of the American Empire ''The Decline of the American Empire'' (french: Le Déclin de l'empire Américain) is a 1986 Canadian sex comedy- drama film directed by Denys Arcand and starring Rémy Girard, Pierre Curzi and Dorothée Berryman. The film follows a group of ...

'' (1986), ''

The Barbarian Invasions ''The Barbarian Invasions'' (french: Les Invasions barbares) is a 2003 Canadian-French sex comedy-drama film written and directed by Denys Arcand and starring Rémy Girard, Stéphane Rousseau and Marie-Josée Croze. The film is a sequel to Arca ...

'' (2003) and Dolan's 2014 film '' Mommy''. In Quebec, the film grossed $445,132 by 3 October 2016, a respectable performance in

Quebec cinema The history of cinema in Quebec started on June 27, 1896 when the Frenchman Louis Minier inaugurated the first movie projection in North America in a Montreal theatre room. However, it would have to wait until the 1960s before a genuine Quebec ...

, though not as strong as ''Mommy''. By 31 October,

Les Films Séville Les Films Séville (Formerly René Malo Vidéo and Malofilm, an international unit known as Seville International) is a Canadian film distributor company and a division of Entertainment One. First based on Saint-André Boulevard in 1983, it moved ...

reported the film grossed $747,386 in Quebec. By 12 February 2017,

Box Office Mojo Box Office Mojo is an American website that tracks box-office revenue in a systematic, algorithmic way. The site was founded in 1998 by Brandon Gray, and was bought in 2008 by IMDb, which itself is owned by Amazon. History Brandon Gray began ...

reported a worldwide gross of $9 million.

Accolades

The film was selected to compete for the

at the

where it won the

Grand Prix Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to: Arts and entertainment ...

and the Ecumenical Jury Prize. It became the second Canadian film to win the Grand Prix, after

Atom Egoyan Atom Egoyan (; hy, Աթոմ Եղոյեան, translit=Atom Yeghoyan; born July 19, 1960) is a Canadian filmmaker. He was part of a loosely-affiliated group of filmmakers to emerge in the 1980s from Toronto known as the Toronto New Wave. Egoyan m ...

's '' The Sweet Hereafter'', and Dolan became the first Quebec filmmaker to win the Grand Prix. The announcement of the awards drew boos from the press, with Dolan emotionally quoting French poet

Anatole France (; born , ; 16 April 1844 – 12 October 1924) was a French poet, journalist, and novelist with several best-sellers. Ironic and skeptical, he was considered in his day the ideal French man of letters. He was a member of the Académie França ...

in saying, "I prefer the madness of passion to the wisdom of indifference".

Canadian Prime Minister The prime minister of Canada (french: premier ministre du Canada, link=no) is the head of government of Canada. Under the Westminster system, the prime minister governs with the confidence of a majority the elected House of Commons; as such ...

Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau ( , ; born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who is the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada. He has served as the prime minister of Canada since 2015 and as the leader of the Liberal Party since 2 ...

congratulated Dolan on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

, writing "You’ve made us proud again, Xavier". ''It's Only the End of the World'' was selected as the Canadian entry for the

Best Foreign Language Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

at the 89th Academy Awards. In December 2016, it made the shortlist of nine films to be considered for a nomination, though it was not ultimately nominated. The film received nine nominations for the

and six nominations for France's

. At the César Awards, the three wins tied with ''

Divines Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the ...

'' for the most honours of the night. ''It's Only the End of the World'' was also the major film winner at the Canadian Screen Awards, where producer Sylvain Corbeil read statements by Dolan, who was unable to attend while working on a film in Paris.

References

External links

* * (rating 2.5/5) {{DEFAULTSORT:It's Only the End of the World 2016 LGBT-related films 2016 films Best Picture Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners Canadian drama films Canadian independent films Canadian LGBT-related films Entertainment One films Films about dysfunctional families Films about writers French films based on plays Films directed by Xavier Dolan Films shot in Montreal Films scored by Gabriel Yared French drama films French independent films French LGBT-related films Films whose director won the Best Director César Award Films featuring a Best Actor César Award-winning performance Gay-related films 2016 drama films 2016 independent films Cannes Grand Prix winners Best Film Prix Iris winners French-language Canadian films 2010s Canadian films 2010s French films