Review: All of a Sudden
- CANNES 2026: Turning his gaze to France, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi chisels out a brilliant and original collector’s piece, brimming with humanity, love and political resonance
"Are the healthy truly alive?" "The impossible is impossible; there is indeed a path to the possible, but you can only find out whether it's valid once you’re on your way." When a Frenchwoman with a degree in Anthropology, now the director of an EHPAD (a French residential care facility for senior citizens), meets a Japanese former philosophy student-turned-theatre director in Paris, their stroll along the quays of the Seine soars to rare heights, shedding light on the link between capitalism and the global drop in birth rates, with workers gradually selling off their personal time. But fear not if such lofty ideas put you off, because Japanese filmmaker Ryûsuke Hamaguchi is a master at letting his holistic vision simmer gently, with a comforting fluidity, by rooting it in a flow of intensely contained emotions and in a plane of reality that is as close to the human as possible. All of a Sudden (running at 3 hours and 16 minutes) constitutes an impressive demonstration of this, carrying us from 6 June to 7 July 2025, from the French capital to the outskirts of Kyoto, back to Paris and ending with an epilogue in both countries. The film has screened in competition at the 79th Cannes Film Festival.
"Walk as slowly as possible, matching your pace to the slowest, lift your head up, look around you and really observe what’s happening." At the Jardin de la Liberté, a private care home for the elderly that she runs, Mari-Lou (Virginie Efira) is trying to implement the techniques of "humanitude", which aims to provide care for each patient as a human being. Built on eye contact (up close, announcing one’s presence and establishing contact), then touch (never directly the hands and face) and speech (like accompanying music), the method reactivates weakened cognitive abilities, communication and awareness. But there's one caveat, and it's not a minor one: this approach takes more time at the outset, as the facility’s nurses, care assistants and activity leaders need thorough training. And the fourth pillar, verticality - standing up and walking (thus gaining freedom) - proves even more problematic, as it increases residents’ risk of falling, which turns part of the care team and the managers of the group that owns the EHPAD (for profitability reasons) against Mari-Lou’s project. On the verge of burnout because of these obstacles, and because she pours so much of herself into her job, she then crosses paths with Japanese woman Mari (Tao Okamoto), who has only a few weeks or months left to live. Between the two women, who have much in common despite appearances, it’s love at first sight…
An expert in subtle signals and in reading the circular and pyramidal structures that govern the connections between inside and outside (on both an individual and a global scale), Hamaguchi, with a mastery achieved through simplicity (while not precluding lifting the veil on complexity), crafts a multi-layered film of great purity, where benevolence stubbornly fights back against inevitability. Offering his two leads wonderful roles that they play to perfection, the filmmaker also knows how to fold every performer into the ensemble, and he easily overcomes the hurdle of shooting in another country and in a language not his own with disarming ease, shaping a highly original cinematic gem that is at once political, down to earth, romantic and universal, built on the idea that "treating others well is a way of doing yourself good".
All of a Sudden was produced by Cinéfrance Studio (which is also handling international sales), Japan’s Office Shirous and Bitters End, Germany’s Heimatfilm, and Belgium’s Tarantula and Gapbusters, in co-production with Arte France Cinéma, Same Player and Marignan Films.
(Translated from French)
Photogallery 15/05/2026: Cannes 2026 - All of a Sudden
23 pictures available. Swipe left or right to see them all.
© 2026 Fabrizio de Gennaro for Cineuropa - fadege.it, @fadege.it
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