The film I was most worried about at this year's MIFF was Ryusuke Hamaguchi's “All of a Sudden” due to its extended running time. Not that I am afraid of long films, but I am currently recovering from a back injury that has seen me off work the past month. The most painful thing for me to do right now is to sit for an extended period of time, ironically, since that is exactly what I will be doing during MIFF. Having my longest film of this year's festival playing on the very first day was a worry, but I am happy to say that while I was definitely uncomfortable during the screening of “All of a Sudden”, my back ultimately survived......but damn, it is a long film!!!
“All of a Sudden” is Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi's brand new film, and deals with the health care systems of the world, particularly for the aged and those of special needs. With a massive running time of three hours and sixteen minutes, it is a demanding experience, and with it's two lead characters being academics, some of the discourse and discussions are quite heady and intricate, so for anyone looking for some breezy entertainment, this is not the film for you. However, that is not to say that “All of a Sudden” is a borefest, as it most certainly is not; this is a film that has a lot to say, has fantastic characters and importantly, it does not pander to its audience as if they are morons. Those familiar with director Hamaguchi will be aware that his stories often have a humanistic bent to them, with human connection being a regular theme, and he is not afraid of long running times (his 2017 film “Happy Hour” runs a whopping five hours and seventeen minutes, making the running time of “All of a Sudden” look like a television episode in comparison). Personally though, I have found that I have reacted more positively towards his films that have had a more “normal” length, such as “Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy” (2021) and “Evil Does Not Exist” (2023).
What is most interesting about “All of a Sudden” is that this is the first time Ryusuke Hamaguchi is working outside of Japan, with the majority of this film taking place in Paris. This also means that a large chunk of the film is also spoken in French, although through a plot conceit, both our main characters, Marie-Lou and Mari, are able to speak and understand both French and Japanese due to each character having studied in the other's country. Because of this, when Marie-Lou and Mari are in conversation, they will regularly change language depending on how hard they find the sentence to say, and somehow it all just feels so organic within the film. Check that, I absolutely loved it because it felt so real between these characters. I know that Virginie Efira learnt Japanese especially for this role and you can tell that she is not just saying her (Japanese) lines phonetically and that she truly understands exactly what she is saying, and thus is able to correctly emote at the same time. The same is true of Tao Okamoto and her French, although I am not sure if she already knew the language prior to shooting the film.
The highlight(s) of “All of a Sudden” are the very long conversations between Marie-Lou and Mari, particularly the first one that takes place after Marie-Lou has been to a play directed by Mari, and sees the two girls wander through Paris as they talk, with time slowly passing. Ryusuke Hamaguchi has been blessed by two outstanding lead performances that are even better when the two of them are together, thanks to their magical chemistry. Marie-Lou is played by Virginie Efira, whilst Mari is played by Tao Okamoto and both are truly fantastic. Efira gives her character a heaviness to her, in that she has all these ideas on how to improve health care and make it more humane but is constantly weighed down by the bureaucracy behind the change, as well as the initial inefficiencies that these new changes will cause, resulting in more angst among her workers due to over-work. You can sense Marie-Lou only wants to do good, but through Efira's performance you can feel that it is starting to get to her and that she is exhausted from the constant fighting for not much gain. Okamoto on the other hand gives Mari a real lightness to her, as she is constantly beaming and full of life and you can see the complex intellectual conversations with Marie-Lou are energising her and further increasing her zest for life and the world. As I have already said, the two girls have wonderful chemistry and you fully believe the life changing impact they have on one another over the course of only one night. It is no surprise that Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto shared the “Best Actress” Award at this year's Cannes Film Festival; they are truly outstanding together.
So what is “All of a Sudden” actually about? As I mentioned earlier, Ryusuke Hamaguchi here is looking at the treatment of both the aged and those of special needs in today's society, and particularly those who have been hospitalised because of their ailments or cognitive decline. I'm not sure if it is because I am getting older myself (I turned 51 earlier this year) or because the world's population is ageing but is a topic in cinema that I appreciate seeing represented, because it rarely is, and I was also a big fan of last year's “The Blue Trail” which looked at the treatment of the elderly in Brazil, but in a much more fanciful story. “All of a Sudden” is Ryusuke Hamaguchi's cry for action in treating these people with the utmost respect until they finally pass. They are not to be hidden away behind closed doors and forgotten about and Hamaguchi's film posits the idea that nurses and carers should actively engage with these people, with the respect they deserve, because they are not dead until they are dead. I know that sounds simplistic but he is saying just because there is little life less, that little life should be respected as much as everything that came before it. Hamaguchi also makes the point that one must look after themselves also before they can be any help to someone else, something that is increasingly difficult to do in the health profession due to the constant staff shortages, which sees too much being left to too few. However those few must give themselves the time off to rest and rejuvenate before they become useless to help anyone else. I also feel Hamaguchi is scathing at the bureaucracy involved in the profession as it makes it almost impossible to enact any significant change for good. Seeing as Ryusuke Hamaguchi has made his two lead characters academics, it gives him the excuse to indulge in some very (very) long conversations about some quite heady topics and for the most part I really engaged with them and was quite enthralled by what was being discussed. Things like the fact that a capitalist society leads to an ageing population were genuinely interesting to listen to and that is because I never felt like Ryusuke Hamaguchi was lecturing his audience........until.......Mari does exactly that! She literally explains the problems, whiteboard included, of a capitalist and democratic society and I must admit because of the way it was presented, it suddenly reminded me of school and, I must admit, that I began to zone out a bit there.
When “All of a Sudden” was initially announced, Ryusuke Hamaguchi said that he wanted to shoot a different Paris than the norm and not just photograph the same old touristy places we see in every movie set there, and he succeeded in doing exactly that. There is not a single shot of the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Champs-Elysees or the Louvre Museum anywhere in the film and it just gives Paris such a different, grounded feel to it all. I absolutely loved it because it felt totally fresh and new, and yet just as pictorially beautiful as the landmarks we all know and love in Paris. He does the same when the film briefly moves to Japan eschewing the metropolises of Tokyo for the mountains of Kyoto, which again look stunning.
So was there anything I didn't like about “All of a Sudden”? Look, it is a very, very long film and to be honest, I do not think it needs to be as long as it is. It definitely was exhausting and I do not think it would've been a lesser film if certain moments were trimmed down a little or removed entirely. I also had a big problem with one of the therapy techniques used in the film which saw everyone, patients and carers, massaging each other's feet. Granted, this is my own personal baggage because I hate people touching or even looking at my feet, but these scenes (and there are a few of them) just made me feel icky. Finally, when the title of the film is spoken by a certain character, and in the context that it was said, I immediately knew where the film was heading, so it was like I was waiting for it to catch up with me. (Incidentally, speaking of the title, I loved the fact that during the opening credits the title was written in Japanese, whilst for the closing credits it was written in French; it seemed perfectly apt for this lovely, heart rendering story).
Overall, Ryusuke Hamaguchi's “All of a Sudden” is a long and heady drama looking at the treatment of the elderly in today's society, and whilst the call to action within the film is admirable and one I fully support, eventually the film does overstay its welcome. However it is blessed by two stunning lead performances from Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto, and the photography of Paris is unlike any film before it, not to mention it is packed with some fantastic conversations between the two main characters. Despite it's extended running time (which I am sure will put some people off), “All of a Sudden” is definitely worth a watch, although I am not sure how much repeat value it has.
3.5 Stars.
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