Also recognized as an actress (she obtained the interpretation award at the Cannes Film Festival in 2015 thanks to My king, by Maïwenn), Emmanuelle Bercot was able to highlight different facets of Catherine Deneuve’s talent in She leaves and Heads up, films that she wrote and directed. In his lifetime is also the third consecutive feature film that she has shot with Benoît Magimel. This time, the filmmaker plunges her two favorite actors into pure emotion, thanks to a very assumed melody. And it works.
Without having recourse to easy or free effects, Emmanuelle Bercot knew how to find the way to tell a story which initially held in a summary idea: a mother, a son, a cancer. The director has indeed brought in a New York doctor of Lebanese origin, who plays his own role here. Oncologist Gabriel Sara also hits the screen thanks to his humanist approach focused above all on benevolence and the appetite for life, even when a patient is about to die in his lifetime.
Shot on the skin, strewn with magnificent scenes where theater students are also involved, In his lifetime stands out mainly thanks to the interpretations of Catherine Deneuve and Benoît Magimel, both remarkable.
Even if the portrait depicted in this drama could hardly be reproduced in life (ideal conditions for nursing staff, seemingly unlimited financial resources, constant attention from an entire medical team, almost enchanting setting), the fate of each person remains. an individual facing imminent death raises the same questions. It is mainly on this level that In his lifetime strikes us right in the heart.
Indoors
Drama
In his lifetime
Emmanuelle Bercot
With Benoît Magimel, Catherine Deneuve, Gabriel Sara
2 hrs