Time to Leave (2005)

François Ozon's Time to Leave (Le temps qui reste) tracks the final months in the life of self-centered fashion photographer Romain (Melvil Poupaud). He decides not to tell his family members about his terminal cancer, except his simpatico grandma (Jeanne Moreau), cruelly leaving them to deal with the shock alone. But the film makes the unsentimental case for his right to die in isolation, treasuring his last glimpse of nature and its fleeting loves. The drama moves at a patient, but not protracted, pace. Romain's psychological transformation as he faces is death is slight and subtle yet forceful, the difficult handling of his relationship with Jany (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi) believable, if unlikely. Poupaud's performance is similarly delicate; he embraces his characters flaws unapologetically, asking for the audience's respect based on simple humanity and Romain's shielded vulnerability within. Ozon frequently favors ostentatious visuals, but here the frame is crisp and ordered in an unobtrusive way so that the key images are unexpectedly gut wrenching, as when a setting sun appears to kiss Romain's dying lips. This is a wonderfully understated melodrama that manages to be moving and sympathetic while resisting the usual cancer weeper clichés. ~ Michael Buening, All Movie Guide