Spanish filmmaker Cesc Gay’s wistful melancholic dramady that swept his country’s Goya and Gaudi Awards is about to hit US screens where it is bound to having very appreciative audiences also reaching for their Kleenex.
It’s the story of middle-aged Argentinian actor Julian (Ricardo Darin), now transplanted in Madrid for the past couple of decades where he has enjoyed a very success career on the stage and in films. He has recently found out that all the treatments he has undergone during the past year for his lung cancer have not been able to stop the onslaught, and his options are fast running out. So now he has decided that rather undergo another grueling round of chemotherapy that his Doctors agree will at best just delay his death slightly, he will simply stop all treatment so as not to spend whatever time he has left in and out of hospitals.
Julien lives alone and his family consists of Nico (Oriol Pla) his 21 year old son who is a University Student in Amsterdam, and also his faithful dog Truman. He worries equally about both of them. Nico has his girlfriend Sophie (Lucie Desclozeaux) who will be there with him when the time comes, but Truman will have no-one so a very picky Julian starts to look for someone good enough to adopt him.
The movie actually starts with the arrival of Julian’s oldest best friend Tomas (Javier Cámara) who is now a College Professor in Canada. Whatever he pretends, the purpose of his 4 day visit is to talk his friend out of stopping all his treatments. However as Julien ushers him around the city going from doctor to undertaker it is obvious that there will be no shifting him from his decision. So the two settle back into the comfort of their deep and long friendship, with each of them doing their best to avoid the reality that this is the last time they will ever spend together.
They even make a surprise side trip to Amsterdam for lunch with Nico, and even though Tomas pleads with his old friend to come clean with his son about his recent diagnosis, Julien finds he simply cannot do it. Turns out later anyway that it wasn’t necessary after all.
As the four day visit begins to draw to an end, even though Julian is at peace with his impending death, he is still deeply concerned about what will happen to Truman who has been his closest companion for so many years. He also wants to make amends as well, like when he runs into the husband of a woman he once had an affair which caused a divorce. Julian says often enough “Each person dies as best he can” and he simply wants to do the same.
The script that Gay co-wrote with Tomàs Aragay doesn’t make light of the subject matter but it is imbued with some beautiful humor that helps make this drama so much more entertaining. Most of the credit however must go to the extraordinary talented Darin who as Julien makes his relationship with Tomas, and in fact with everyone else, so immensely touching. He pitches his performance so perfectly and whilst it has more than its share of sadness, it has its moments of joy that you know that he wants to be his real legacy.
Nevertheless still have two boxes of Kleenex handy. One for Julian and one for Truman too
