It's Only the End of the World

After a several-year absence writer Louis returns home to announce to his family that he is soon going to die. But his welcome into the fold is somewhat different than he anticipated. His mother, younger sister and particularly his older brother are too caught up in their private worlds and their trivial frustration to notice anyone except themselves. So it’s hardly likely that they’ll interpret the return of the prodigal son as anything else than his decision to come back to gloat about his own successes. Everyone finds a reason to blame Louis for something he did in the past, and time slips by in a spate of quarrels and bitter recriminations, despite the visitor’s attempts at conciliation. After Mommy, honoured at Cannes in 2014 (Jury Prize), 27-year-old Canadian Xavier Dolan returned to the competition with an adaptation of the play by acclaimed French dramatist Jean-Luc Lagarce (1957–1995), for which he secured the collaboration of a superb cast. Despite a controversial reception from the critics, on this occasion cinema’s “child prodigy” took away Cannes’ Grand Prix, the festival’s second highest award.