Matt Shea
RubySoho
Morgan Bell
Cibbuano
David O'Connell
Mountain Fog
Everything's Fine (Tout Est Parfait) @ Possible Worlds, the Canadian Film Festival
November 23rd 2008 22:06
One day in small town Quebec, four teenage boys are found to have killed themselves, and their fifth friend, Josh, is the one that discovers one of the bodies. Naturally, everyone looks to Josh for reasons, then understanding, but Josh is silent.
The silence in "Everything's Fine" is haunting, but that's the stereotype about men from Quebec, where the film was made, hardened like the steel bits of mining equipment. Josh is unable to respond to anyone, his parents, the school psychologist, even one of his friend's ex-girlfriends, who he starts a relationship with, but summarily pushes her away.
The trailer for "Everything's Perfect", without English subtitles, unfortunately:
Lesser movies would have exploited the tragedy of the suicides, giving us manipulated closeups of the parents' faces, weeping openly at the loss of their sons. Fournier avoids this pitfall, as much as the audience wants to see it, choosing instead to focus on Josh, revisiting the places where he used to hang out with his friends.
There's a moment in the film, when Josh is talking to one of his friend's father, a former golf player, who describes the game to Josh. It's obviously a metaphor for life, but there's this moment where Josh asks what a 'birdie' is, and the father responds that it's one shot less than normal.
Josh: Normal? What's normal?
Father: Depends on the course, could be par 3, 4, or par 5.
Josh: What's par?
Father (incredulous): Par means normal!
Father: Depends on the course, could be par 3, 4, or par 5.
Josh: What's par?
Father (incredulous): Par means normal!
He struggles to define what normal is - and so do we. Normality is defined, naturally, by what exists around us; with four other friends around, Josh existed in local nexus of normality... now, with his friends gone, he was uniquely alone, and definitely abnormal.
Somehow, these four boys couldn't accept the par for the course, and decided to go their own way. Through flashbacks, Fournier clearly shows the friends to be outsiders, teenage monkeys that were happy to exist on the outskirts of 'normal' society, skateboarding, smoking joints and relishing each other's company; a pack of young wolves, eager to strike it out on their own, feeling that crisp Quebec air racing through their fingers as they drive down deserted country roads.
It would seem that "Everything's Fine" would be a miserable film to watch at the closing night of the Canadian Film Festival, but that's absolutely not true - it ends so rapturously, so joyfully that the black stain of death is scrubbed free from your memory. The movie does not exist to judge the action of suicide, but chooses, instead, to use the tragedy to explore how intense, how fiercely loyal these boys were to each other.
"Everything's Fine" will screen on December 2 as part of Possible Worlds: the Canadian Film Festival
I say: An excellent Quebecois film, and one that I'd recommend everyone to see!
See it for: The silence of the film is paired wonderfully with an engaging soundtrack, and tranquil scenes from small-town Quebec. The quarry, the forests, the pure, crystal lakes... this place of beauty is as much of a prison for these boys as it is a pleasure for us to see.
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Comment by David O'Connell
Screen Fanatic
Comment by Tracy
Movies and Life
I'm seeing this at the festival. It was good to hear what you thought,
Tracy
Comment by Cibbuano
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
Tracy, great! Also, come to the opening night, I'll be there...
Comment by Tracy
Movies and Life
Comment by Cibbuano
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
See this one if you can, on closing night!