In All of a Sudden (read review), Virginie Efira delivers a quietly commanding performance as Marie-Lou, the director of a French care home who struggles to introduce a more humane philosophy of eldercare while forming an unexpected bond with Mari (Tao Okamoto), a Japanese theatre director facing terminal cancer. Inspired by a real-life exchange of letters between a philosopher confronting illness and an anthropologist, this new Ryûsuke Hamaguchi oeuvre unfolds through extended conversations and everyday encounters, gradually expanding into a meditation on mortality, dignity, the ethics of care and the possibility of resisting systems that value efficiency over human connection.
A joint winner (with Tao Okamoto) of Best Actress prize at Cannes this past May, this performance from Efira ranks among her best — Justine Triet’s Sibyl (2019), Paul Verhoeven’s Benedetta (2021), and Rebecca Zlotowski’s Other People’s Children (2012). I had the chance to ask the actress a trio of questions at the Toronto Intl. Film Festival. NEON release All of a Sudden on November 25th – here is our sit down.
