All Of A Sudden
A Franco-Japanese drama by Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car) about the extraordinary friendship between two women: a workaholic director of a care home for Alzheimer’s patients and a Japanese theatre director. Award-winning at Cannes.
The idealistic Marie-Lou (Virginie Efira) wants to introduce ‘humanitude’ at the care home where she is in charge: a new philosophy of care that places humanity, dignity and connection at its heart. By chance, she meets Mari (Tao Okamoto), a Japanese theatre director struggling with a terminal illness that could strike at any moment (hence the film’s title). They become friends and have long, thoughtful conversations on a wide range of topics: capitalism, social exhaustion, illness, care and art.
Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi won an Oscar in 2022 for the meandering drama Drive My Car. In the contemplative All Of A Sudden, he once again takes his time (over three hours) to slowly draw the viewer into a story about humanity, mortality and fate that becomes increasingly moving as it unfolds. Lead actors Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto were jointly awarded the prize for Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival.
Written by MV