Everything Is Fine (2008)

Josh is an ordinary teen living in an ordinary suburb, wedged between the high school, the mine and the skate park. One morning, he finds his friend Thomas's dead body. Next, he discovers ... See full summary »

Director:

Yves Christian Fournier

Writers:

Yves Christian Fournier, Guillaume Vigneault

Stars:

Maxime Dumontier, Chloé Bourgeois, Maxime Bessette

7 wins & 10 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Maxime Dumontier	...	Josh
Chloé Bourgeois	...	Mia
Maxime Bessette	...	Thomas
Jean-Noel Raymond-Jetté	...	Alex (as Jean-Noël Raymond-Jetté)
Niels Schneider	...	Sasha
Sébastien Bergeron-Carranza	...	Simon
Normand D'Amour	...	Henri
Anie Pascale	...	Geneviève
Claude Legault	...	Dominic - Josh's father
Marie Turgeon	...	Stéphanie
Pierre-Luc Brillant	...	Francis
Martin Dubreuil	...	Réal
David Larocque-Gauthier	...	Rondeau
Fred-Eric Salvail	...	Èric (as Fred-Èric Salvail)
Patrice Dussault	...	Professeur

Storyline

Josh is an ordinary teen living in an ordinary suburb, wedged between the high school, the mine and the skate park. One morning, he finds his friend Thomas's dead body. Next, he discovers that three more friends also killed themselves, leaving him out of their pact. As the sole survivor, Josh becomes more and more detached from the world around him. Only Mia, his best friend's girl, can reach him. With more questions than answers, Josh's is the story of a survivor. It is a modern portrait of today's teens: invincible yet fragile, clear-thinking yet confused, idealistic yet jaded.

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Plot Keywords:

suicide attempt | teen suicide | teen angst | suicide | suicide pact | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

Canada

Language:

French

Release Date:

7 January 2009 (France)

Also Known As:

Everything Is Fine

Filming Locations:

Longueuil, Québec, Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

Go Films, Les Productions Tout est Parfait

Technical Specs

Runtime:

118 min (DVD) 118 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Soundtracks

Hymne à notre style
Performed by Limollou Starz
Written and Composed by Aly Ndiaye, SOCAN

User Reviews

A thoughtful, engaging look at the aftermath of suicide

Anyone looking for a "feel good" movie that cheer leads about the glories of living should take a pass on this one, but fans of films that take a more realistic view of life, one in which issues are examined and discussed but never fully settled will find much to appreciate in Tout est parfait (Everything is fine). One of the highlights of the film for me was that it showed one of the most honest depictions of teenagers I've seen on screen--there are characters representing various "types" of personalities, but they are not limited to narrowly-defined roles. Just like in real life, the personalities in the film are diverse and often contradictory.

The movie begins with lead character Josh, a member of a close-knit group of young men who hang out together, discovering that he's the only of the five who hasn't killed himself. While everyone around him treats him as an object of pity or curiosity, Josh himself insists that he is fine (hence the title) and is capable of taking care of his own feelings, disengaging from his parents and being actively hostile to the psychologist they insist he sees. Josh's actions belie his words, however, as he struggles to form a friendship with the father of one of his friends and develops a budding romance with the former girlfriend of another. When he's not with one of them, he can be found wandering the town contemplating his lost friends in flashback scenes that reveal the personalities of his friends and the nature of their friendships a little bit at a time.

There are many fine performances and memorable characters in the film, but perhaps the strongest character is Mia, the girl Josh seems to be falling for. She offers Josh love and acceptance, but she also challenges him with remarkable strength, courage and grace, ultimately inspiring Josh to realize that he's not the only one who hurts, but he's the only one who can make his own choices for himself.

Overall, the film is excellent, but I do have a few minor criticisms of it. The movie's pace is quite slow, which works well after a certain point, but at least for me the first ten minutes or so dragged on very slowly. Josh's tactiturn personality makes it hard to feel much for him at first which makes a film seen primarily from his point of view a bit of a struggle to get into. At about the 20 minute mark the film really picked up and more than made up for that first bit, but it is worth noting that it takes a while to warm up to it.

The flashback scenes are well played, but the transitions in and out of them are often awkward; while I normally dislike films that waste a lot of time telling instead of showing, parts of this movie definitely could have been improved with just a bit of exposition. Still, despite its flaws, this is a great film well worth seeing.