Shadows on the Wall | Good Grief

Good Grief

dir-scr Daniel Levy
prd Daniel Levy, Megan Zehmer, Debra Hayward, Kate Fenske
with Daniel Levy, Ruth Negga, Himesh Patel, Luke Evans, Celia Imrie, Arnaud Valois, David Bradley, Mehdi Baki, Emma Corrin, Jamael Westman, Kaitlyn Dever, Yoli Fuller
release US/UK 29.Dec.23
23/UK Netflix 1h39

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Opening as a British Christmas romcom at a posh party with beautiful people, this film quickly shifts into something darkly moving. Actor-filmmaker Daniel Levy keeps the tone realistic, blending sparky dialog and characters with strong emotions. So it's actually a serious friendship drama, with an added sentimental romance. While the combination is impressive, it's tricky for the audience to connect with a story that's so many things at once.

After another lively holiday get-together, artist Marc (Levy) is shaken when he loses his shining-star husband Oliver (Evans). And Marc still hasn't dealt with his mother's death. To stifle his feelings, Marc asks his gallery-owner ex Thomas (Patel) to move into his home. Then their friend Sophie (Negga) breaks up with her boyfriend and moves in as well. When Marc finds out that Oliver had a secret love nest in Paris, the three of them head off to check it out. Meanwhile, Marc is using this trip to get to know handsome Frenchman Theo (Valois).

Mixing romance and comedy with grieving can be rather awkward, even when it's played with an earthy, everyday honesty like it is here. So whenever things begin to feel like they might become silly, a wave of intense emotion sweeps in to bring everyone down. And Marc begins to behave in ways that seem prickly and harsh. The serious conversations feel genuinely weighty, tapping into issues that are thoughtful and sometimes even provocative.

Performances have an offhanded goofiness to them, with Levy playing the straight man, as it were, opposite his two colourful friends. While Levy layers Marc's sharp tongue with his repressed pain, Patel and especially Negga lean into the nuttier sides of their roles, even as their issues run deep. By comparison, Valois plays Theo as understanding and sensitive, matching wits with Marc while pushing him to look into himself and express his feelings about his mother and husband through painting.

There's a serious point here about the dangers of dodging intense emotions by choosing levity instead. The script is exploring the idea that we pretend to be happy when we're not, from hiding our truth from those we love to working a job we hate just to earn the cash. It makes the important observation that the only way to find a path through the chaos of life is to be both honest and kind. And to not run away from the people we lose.

themes, language 5.Dec.23

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