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It’s Only The End Of The World centres around Gaspard Ulliel as Louis, who made a name for himself away from the family home as a writer, but as this film begins – and after 12 years away, he’s taking one last journey home to tell everyone that he’s dying from a terminal illness.
His mother, played by Nathalie Baye, is too concerned about creating the perfect atmosphere for her long-lost son’s return to the fold, while his arrogant and sarcastic brother, Antoine (Tale of Tales‘ Vincent Cassel), is determined to smash any peace into smithereens. This leaves the only people he can really talk to being his sister, Suzanne (Léa Seydoux – Blue Is The Warmest Colour) and sister-in-law Catherine (Marion Cotillard – Allied), both of whom are a lot more compassionate.
Of course, where do you begin when it comes to reconnecting with family in a situation like this? And where do you begin in telling the tale?
Well, despite a glorious score and fantastic lighting in the final act, I was really looking forward to this after writer/director Xavier Dolan‘s intoxicating Mommy, but IOTEOTW simply takes one idea and stretches it beyond breaking point as Louis goes from one family member to another having long, drawn-out – pondering but partially poignant – one-to-ones while he tries to pick the right moment to tell everyone about his illness.
The film is presented in the original 1.85:1 widescreen ratio and in 1080p high definition, and looks superb, bringing the intense scenes to light by focusing on close-ups for the majority of the running time, delivered on a pristine print with zero defects. Note that I’m watching this on a 50″ Panasonic Plasma TV, the film playing from a PS4.
The audio is in DTS HD 5.1, and is mostly a dialogue-driven piece, but does have the aforementioned score, which comes from Gabriel Yared (Betty Blue).
There are only two extras on this disc – a theatrical trailer (1:36) and an interview with Xavier Dolan and Marion Cotillard (11:31), shot at the Cannes Film Festival, May 2016. The entire interview is in English, and does give spoilers about the film, so see that before watching this.
The menu features mostly an image of the packshot, but also a portion of it gives way to clips from the film set to an atmospheric piece from the score. There are a bog standard 12 chapters and subtitles are in English.
It’s Only The End Of The World is released tomorrow on Blu-ray and DVD, and click on the packshot and all images in this review for the full-size versions.
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FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS |
4 10 9 2 |
| OVERALL | 7 |
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 97 minutes
Year: 2016
Cat.no: ART206BD
Released: April 24th 2017
Chapters: 12
Picture: 1080p High Definition
Sound: 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio, DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1
Languages: French
Subtitles: English
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1 (Super 35)
Disc Format: BD50
Director: Xavier Dolan
Producers: Sylvain Corbeil, Xavier Dolan, Nancy Grant, Elisha Karmitz, Nathanaël Karmitz, Michel Merkt and Vincent Cassel
Screenplay: Xavier Dolan
Music: Gabriel Yared
Cast:
Louis: Gaspard Ulliel
La mère: Nathalie Baye
Antoine: Vincent Cassel
Catherine: Marion Cotillard
Suzanne: Léa Seydoux
Pierre Jolicoeur: Antoine Desrochers
Louis (age 15): William Boyce Blanchette
Taxi driver: Sasha Samar
Small boy: Arthur Couillard
Louis (age 5-6): Emile Rondeau
Antoine (age 16-22): Théodore Pellerin
Young girl on trampoline: Jenyane Provencher
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.