Everything Went Fine

The writer Emmanuèle's father André has a stroke, and when he wakes in hospital he asks her for one thing: help ending his life. Since euthanasia is illegal in France, the family contacts a clinic in Switzerland. François Ozon adapted it from Emmanuèle Bernheim's own memoir. Sophie Marceau plays Emmanuèle and André Dussollier plays her father, with Charlotte Rampling, Géraldine Pailhas and Grégory Gadebois in support. Hichame Alaouié shot it and Laure Gardette edited. The tone is surprisingly light for the subject; preparing for a death dissolves into everyday logistics, and the comedy comes from there. It premiered at Cannes on 7 July 2021 and opened in France on 22 September 2021. Against a 7.3 million dollar budget it grossed 2.2 million. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 91 percent, with a consensus that puts it well: it faces serious themes with an effectively light touch and the estimable talents of its brilliant veteran stars. Who it is for: viewers who want death and family handled without melodrama. Who it is not for: anyone expecting the subject's full weight. The detached tone reads as cold to some.