Nathalie Baye and Marion Cotillard, two great actresses from different generations, 'sold' me on this movie about which I knew nothing. Normally I run a mile from any movie whose cast includes Vincent one- trick pony Cassell unless, as here, his Jonny-One-Note violence is offset by at least one decent co-star and here, as mentioned, we have two. The plot is centred on our old friend the dysfunctional family and in this case it is reminiscent of A Christmas Tale without the snow. To nutshell it, Gaspard Ulliel has terminal Aids and is moved to visit his mother, sister, brother from whom he has been estranged for 12 years during which time he has acquired a sister-n-law, Cotillard, though why someone as sane and gentle as Cotillard would marry a psychotic sociopath like Cassell is something known only to the writers. It does, of course, end in tears and Ulliel leaves with his secret intact. The truest line in the whole schmear is when his sister calls Casselll 'a f***ing psycho'. She got that one right.
Review of It's Only the End of the World
