Rental: Afterwards (Et après)
Et après – France
Release Date: October 2009 (June 2010 DVD)
Rating: Not Rated – (My guess PG-13)
Starring: Romain Duris, John Malkovich and Evangeline Lilly
Director: Gilles Bourdos
Based on the Novel by Guillaume Musso
I picked up this little gem of a movie at my local rental spot the other day and was surprised that I hadn’t heard anything about it prior to spotting it on the shelf. One would think that with names like John Malcovich and Evangeline Lily the film would have gotten a bit more press but maybe I just missed the memo. The description made me think: romance-drama with a supernatural twist and that was pretty much exactly where I would peg it after watching the film which I really did enjoy. Even a brutal horror chick like myself can melt after watching a good, thought provoking, tear-jerker, sometimes.
The story starts out with a bit of a jolt. Two young children are playing by a pond when one falls through a rotten board nearly drowning sending the other off to search for help. In his search he becomes injured also. This is probably the most shocking scene in the whole film, or at least for me it was because it was completely unexpected. From there it flashes forward many years to the present day with a work-aholic Frenchmen played by the captivating Romain Duris. Quickly you learn that he is estranged from his wife, played by the lovely Evangeline Lily, and young daughter due to a recent tragedy in their family that tore them apart. In comes a mysteri
ous stranger, Doctor Kay played by Malkovich, who vaguely begins to divulge secrets about people called “The Messengers” who have the power to know or see when someone is going to die and bring them the message of their fate to help them prepare. He tells all this to Nathan (Duris) in preparation for devastating news that will change his entire life.
The film is absolutely beautiful to watch with breathtaking scenes of Nathan and his family on holiday by a river and desert sequences where his wife Claire shoots nature photography at night. The questions that it brings up are ones that I would imagine most people have at least thought about from time to time. What happens when we die and the grief left behind. I thought that maybe the outline of just exactly who the “Messengers” were could have been a bit more polished but other than that I really enjoy it and was moved by the ending.
– It’s better than Bacon
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