More Than Ever

Thirty-three-year-old Hélène is living happily in Bordeaux with her husband Mathieu. Then she is diagnosed with a rare lung disease. Mathieu is fully beside her; he researches treatments, looks for hope, and wants her to fight it. Hélène does not want to fight. Online she finds the blog of a man living in Norway and one day leaves without telling anyone. She leaves her husband behind. Emily Atef builds her illness narrative not through love but through how much room love sometimes takes up. What Hélène is looking for is not recovery but the ability to prepare for her own death on her own. The Norwegian landscape is used as the answer to that solitude. Vicky Krieps plays Hélène and Gaspard Ulliel plays Mathieu. It was Ulliel's last film; he died in a skiing accident in January 2022 and the film screened at Cannes that same year. Who it's for: Viewers who like French drama, narratives about illness and death, and films built on landscape. Who it's not for: The subject is heavy and the narrative is slow. The character's decision will look indefensible to some.