The style of the 8 feature films directed by François Ozon - the recipient of this year’s HBO Career Achievement Award – vary wildly, but two of them, Under the Sand (2001) and now Time to Leave, exhibit a masterly sense of maturity, gravity and control that call to mind the timeless moral quandaries posed by the late great Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieslowski. The second film in a projected trilogy about death and mourning, Time to Leave tells the story of Romain (Melvil Poupaud), a handsome 31-year-old fashion photographer who collapses one day during a shoot. Tests reveal he has cancer so advanced there is less than 5% chance of a cure, and that he probably has less than 3 months to live. How would you deal with such news?
Romain responds to the shock by first keeping the news completely to himself. He goes to visit his family, where he snorts coke and cruelly, mercilessly needles his sister’s insecurities. He goes home and has savagely aggressive sex with his blond German boyfriend Sasha, and then immediately breaks up with him. Taking an indefinite amount of time off work, Romain travels to visit the one person he can confide in: his grandmother and soul mate, Laura (played impeccably by the legendary Jeanne Moreau). Only in Laura’s presence is Romain able to let go of his self-protective callousness and begin to mourn his imminent and premature passing, and attempt to make sense and find peace with the disease that is quickly ravaging his body.
Romain returns to Paris (after saying his touching goodbye to Laura) a decidedly changed man. He continues to keep the reality of his condition from his loved ones,
leaving them unprepared for his impending death. But Romain’s carefully considered decision to (as Ozon describes it) “embrace his solitude and answer only to himself”, is a profoundly moving display of courage, and he finds a whimsical and surprisingly joyful way to embrace life in his final days. There’s no question that there is much in Time to Leave to feel sad about, but Ozon and his actors Poupaud, Moreau and Valerie Bruni-Tedeschi (in a supporting role) illuminate the human heart in a manner that is ultimately soaring, redemptive and generous. In French with English subtitles.
Melvil Poupaud, the star of Time to Leave will accept the Career Achievement Award on behalf of the Director, François Ozon, prior to the screening, and be available for a Q& A with the audience.
François Ozon was born in Paris and studied filmmaking at l’École Nationale Supérieure des Métiers de l’Image et du Son (FEMIS). His feature films include Sitcom (1998), Criminal Lovers (1999), Water Drops on Burning Rocks, (which won the TEDDY Award for Best Gay Feature Film at the 2000 Berlin International Film Festival), Under the Sand (2001), which revived the career of Charlotte Rampling, 8 Femmes (2002), Swimming Pool (2003), and 5 x 2 - Cinq fois deux (2004).
Preceded by Career Achievement Award sponsored by HBO
Regal South Beach
7:30 pm Screening
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