It’s Only the End of the World (or ‘Juste le fin du monde’ in its native language) is a French drama by Xavier Dolan, sporting a cast to die for, but not much else. My initial impressions were that this film thought very highly of itself, and this theory was upheld as the film progressed.

The film begins with a dramatic inside monologue from the ‘main character’ Louis, a prosperous gay theatre actor who has not been home for 12 years, sitting on a plane describing how he is about to go see his family and tell them that he is dying. I say ‘main character’ because I thought that this individual lacked any form of character development throughout the film, and just remained to stare blankly and mumble softly in nearly every scene, which doesn’t make him a very compelling figure at all.

"Go to see this film if you’re looking to add some expressive monologues to your repertoire, but not if you want to be truly entertained"

I believe it is fair to say that the film is almost plotless, and is essentially a bunch of disconnected scenes featuring monologues from each of his family members describing how Louis’ departure of 12 years has affected them personally. Intercut within these monologue scenes are seemingly random sections of slow motion staring between characters with poorly chosen music to accompany it. The soundtrack overall I found disappointing, featuring one too many cheesy 90’s European songs that did not fit in with the tone of the movie at all, with the exception of the closing song ‘Natural Blues’ by Moby.

The only thing It’s Only The End of The World had going for it was the acting, which I found very impressive particularly from Vincent Cassel, playing Louis’ older brother Antione; a man who is abusive, rude, and cruel to nearly every other character he interacts with, including his wife. Despite this nastiness, it nonetheless gave the film some energy.

Go to see this film if you’re looking to add some expressive monologues to your repertoire, but not if you want to be truly entertained.

Rating: 1.5/5

More like this: Heartbeats (2010)