ALL OF A SUDDEN, starring : Virginie Efira, Tao Okamoto. Director, Ryusuke Hamaguchi. Rated PG (Mild themes). 196 min.
Review by Peter W Sheehan, Jesuit Media Australia
This film is from Germany, Belgium, Japan and France and focuses on a nursing home in Paris where the woman in charge (Virginie Efira) attempts to introduce a human-care technique, and encounters strong resistance to it. Her life is changed when she meets a terminally ill Japanese playwright, Marie (Tao Okamoto), who responds positively to what she is doing.
The film is a multi-layered film of great tenderness. It was nominated for the Palme d’Or Award at the Cannes Festival in 2026 and was awarded Best Actress at Cannes in 2026 with an award shared between its two main actresses – Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto. It is the first time that Cannes has split its Best-Actress Award.
The Director of this movie is the same person who directed “Drive My Car” which was a very well-received 2021 film about an aging widowed actor who drives a hire car in Hiroshima, and who develops a caring, therapeutic relationship with a young woman.
The film is an amazingly tender movie that communicates rich observations about the dignity of life. It is a philosophical movie that uses dialogue to sensitively explore human character. It embraces hope and courage as ways to cope with possible death and dying; it fosters community support and solace among needy people who urgently require help; and it intelligently dissects the separate components of Capitalism as they relate to human need and distress.
The film is loosely based on a non-fiction book, “You and I-The illness Suddenly Gets Worse” by Makiko Miyano and Maho Isono. Efira, as the Director of the aged care facility, and Okamoto, the terminally ill playwright, discuss the Philosophy of Art in a stimulating, rewarding fashion throughout the movie in a way that reflects a humanistic vision of human need.
This is a film that explores life and human need in a very dignified and caring way, and it richly deserves the rewards that it has deservedly received.
Peter Sheehan, an Associate of Jesuit Media.