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After Him

Philippa Hawker, Reviewer
August 6, 2008

This is an intriguing, understated yet intense tale of grief and loss.

Nuanced performance ... Deneuve and Thomas Dumerchez.

Nuanced performance ... Deneuve and Thomas Dumerchez.

Genre
Drama
Run Time
90 minutes
Rated
M
Country
France
Year
2008
Director
Gael Morel
Actors
Catherine Deneuve, Elodie Bouchez, Guy Marchand, Adrien Jolivet, Thomas Dumerchez.
Rating
stars-3half

Directed by Gael Morel and co-written by Morel and Christophe Honore, this is an intriguing, understated yet intense tale of grief and loss, which could have explored many possibilities but chooses to remain carefully ambiguous. Catherine Deneuve plays Camille, mother of Mathieu (Adrien Jolivet), whom we meet only briefly when he's preparing to go out partying with a friend, Franck (Thomas Dumerchez). It's a tantalising scene, intimate and full of resonances. It's the last time mother and son see each other. Not long afterwards, he's killed in a road accident, which Franck survives. Camille, expresses her grief in ways that make others uncomfortable. Rather than mourning conventionally, she directs her attention and energy towards Franck, the link with what she has lost. Her family - her divorced husband, her pregnant daughter - are taken aback. Franck, devastated by the accident, is bewildered, unsure of how to respond. The haunted Camille is vulnerable but there's also something aggressive, as far as others are concerned, about how she responds. Her mourning is utterly incomprehensible to others, and its insistence and focus seems like a threat.

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