Louis is a gifted playwright, returning to his family home after a 12-year absence, to deliver important news: he has a terminal disease, and not long to live. The family he meets are a collection of strangers—like his youngest sister and his new brother-in-law—or they’re angry, debilitating people whom he wishes were strangers. Over the course of the long weekend, Louis keeps trying to deliver the bleak news, only to be interrupted, berated, ignored, and, at one point, on the verge of being physically abused.
A wicked and almost unbearable exercise in family dysfunction, Xavier Dolan’s newest film has polarized critics, the kind of a harrowing picture that leaves its viewers exhausted, exhilarated, or both in equal measure. Canada’s official submission to the 89th Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
“It’s Only the End of the World is confrontational absurdism: a fascinating, sustained assault.” — The Guardian
Director’s Biography
Xavier Dolan: Xavier Dolan was born in Montreal in 1989 and at age 16, wrote, produced, directed and starred in I Killed My Mother (2009, MSPIFF appearance 2010), which won three awards at Cannes. Laurence Anyways and Tom at the Farm played at MSPIFF 2012 and MSPIFF 2014, respectively.
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