Although he has made a few films, Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi really caught fire in 2001, first at Berlin with his Wheel of Fortune & Fantasy and then big time at Cannes where in 2021 he took three prizes for Drive My Car, a movie that would later make history with Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Director and Adapted Screenplay in addition to a win for Best International Film. After following it up with 2023’s Evil Does Not Exist, Hamaguchi has returned to Cannes for the premiere in competition of his first French-made film All of a Sudden (Soudain), which, clocking in at 3 hours and 16 minutes, is the longest film in the competition this year and, though admirable in its intentions, feels like it.
I was an early adopter and huge admirer of Drive My Car, which I saw and was wowed by even before I got to Cannes. That film came in at 2 hours and 59 minutes but felt seamless in every way, the long running time not a hindrance at all. With All of a Sudden, a film with much to recommend about it, the overall impact is diluted due to the length of some sequences which feel endless and almost more like an academic exercise than an actual movie.
The director adapted the story, with co-writer Lea Le Dimna, from a book, When Life Suddenly Takes a Turn: Twenty Letters Between a Philosopher with Terminal Cancer and a Medical Anthropologist. It is essentially a series of letters between philosopher Mikako Miyano, whose life takes a detour when she is diagnosed with cancer, and medical anthropologist Maho Osona. Inspired by this book, Hamaguchi felt France might be more open to a way into a film version than his native Japan. He has combined elements from both cultures to tell this fictionalized tale of the emerging relationship between two women, one, Marie-Lou (Virginie Efira), a health care director at a French nursing home, and the other, a Japanese visiting stage director, Mari (Tao Okamoto), whose play dealing with a psychiatric ward has opened nearby.
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Weaved in and out of the film are many discussions of the state of health care in France, along with examinations of the impact of capitalism on the systemic failures of it all. It also serves as a shining infommercial for Humanitude, the humane method employed by a handful of hospitals now to deal with the elderly in particular, and a medical philosophy espoused by Marie-Lou who is at odds in trying to change the ways of the staff of the facility where she now enjoys a leadership role, much to the consternation of longtime head nurse Sophie (Maria Bunel) who has strong opinions of the way to deal with their aging residents.
If that sounds like juicy dramatic conflict, don’t get your hopes up. This isn’t The Pitt. In fact All of a Sudden‘s focus soon becomes clear when Marie-Lou attends Mari’s play starring a renowned Japanese actor, Goro Kiyomiya (Kyoza Nagatsuka), in a one-man show set in a psychiatric hospital. As with Drive My Car, which also dealt with a director staging a play (in that case the classic Uncle Vanya), this one was created for the screenplay and takes up a large chunk of running time as a play within the movie followed by a Q&A session and even separate audience questions peppered in after that when Marie-Lou attempts to catch up with the director.
This is the beginning of their personal connection, and Mari is invited to spend time with Marie-Lou at the nursing facility. Complications eventually (emphasis on eventually) arise when Mari reveals her terminal cancer diagnosis which leads to an invitation to serve as a special consultant and advisor. There are many interludes with the women throughout the film including an extended conversation between them, complete with chalkboard and diagrams (!) about the negative impact of capitalism on the failing state of health care. If this sounds like the movie stops for a lecture, it is because it does. As this talky interlude goes on, I kept thinking Godard would love it, and lo and behold there is even a reference to the great god of the New Wave later in the film.
At one point Mari decides to return to Kyoto to live out her days and invites Marie-Lou to join her. This is a lovely, beautifully shot section (Alan Guichaoua is the cinematographer) that has some of the best moments in the film, a gentle end-of-life journey for one person and a compassionate friend. It isn’t the finale though and there is still more to come.
Efira, who is also co-starring in another competition entry this year at Cannes with Asghar Farhadi’s terrific Parallel Tales (trade critics be damned), is also very fine and convincing as a caregiver who really cares about humanity and delivering treatment to our aging citizens as they face tough times and a system that just wants to discard them. Okamoto matches her with a nicely understated and impressive performance. Both stars convince us of the genuine relationship they have forged, a secure bond Hamaguchi unfortunately clearly felt had to be achieved by letting it play out more leisurely than necessary to understand the attraction between these two women. The film’s focus is on them, but others make an impact, notably Nagatsuka as the visiting star who also has an autistic teenage son who pops in and out. His participation includes yet another performance of the play that Mari and the actor bring directly to the home, one interrupted by the stuff of life with the elderly and impaired.
Neon will likely have a big challenge attracting audiences for this film, its imposing length not its only drawback. Still, All of a Sudden certainly has its attributes, notably bringing attention to the sorry state of health care and offering a humane antidote for that. Let’s hope RFK Jr. gets a screening.
Producers are David Gauquié & Julien Deris, Kosuke Oshida & Yuji Sadai.
Title: All of a Sudden
Festival: Cannes (Competition)
Distributor: Neon
Director: Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Screenwriters: Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Lea Le Dimna
Cast: Virginie Efira, Tao Okamoto, Kyoza Nagatsuka, Jean-Charles Clichet, Maria Bunel, Romain Cottard
Running time: 3 hr 16 mins
