During his lifetime: Benoît Magimel imperial (critic)

Emmanuelle Bercot films death face to face using a staging that is both inspired and cluttered with itself.

France 2 will broadcast this Sunday, for the first time unencrypted, In his lifetimethe drama which earned Benoit Magimel the César for best actor in 2022. A year later, he was honored again for Peacetion.

First recommends it to you, even if its subject is difficult. Our review can be read below.

Looking death in the face, a vast program that Emmanuelle Bercot is tackling here (Heads up, The Girl from Brest…). Look at her okay but for what purpose? Stare at a being like a painter, observe its slow degradation and grasp the anxiety of erasure.

Benjamin (Benoît Magimel) suffers from terminal cancer. The doctor doesn’t beat around the bush. Death is here, lurking and will strike quickly. Inevitably. Benjamin is also a drama teacher and therefore allows young people to achieve a form of truth. A work that the condemned carries out in return, unconsciously working towards the own representation of his exit.

Emmanuelle Bercot does not shy away, her feverish staging abolishes distances, reconfigures the space to prepare for embalming. The patient listened to by his students, listens to his doctor. And when the body no longer allows you to move, you must finally listen to yourself to settle any possible scores.

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Around, there is also the mother, Crystal (Catherine Deneuve), there, tired and helpless; the unrecognized son who hesitates – there, not there? ; or the nurse (Cécile de France) ultimately seduced. Added to this is a very documented touch. The boat becomes heavy, too heavy, threatens to sink. The flashes of melodrama can’t do everything. But at the center, there is Magimel and his impenetrable face on the surface of which life has nevertheless taken up residence. The light recomposes this beautiful figure as it pleases. In his lifetime is a strange film in which certain paroxysmal aspects even evoke de Palma. It’s not nothing.

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