Don't Forget You're Going to Die

I found this movie disjointed. It makes sense that Benoit might want to sink himself in an oblivion of drink and drugs to forget his pain, but a huge amount of the film was spent on this part of the story, with some drugs scenes in long, unnecessary detail. Then just as you think that this is what the film is about, suddenly, and without warning or any helpful thought process from Benoit, things change. And then again, though later passages are increasingly brief since there's just not time left after the earlier drug marathon. I found myself having to rewind to work out where Benoi was and the explanation (there was usually none) since the changes are so quick and unexpected. The ending feels contrived, rather silly, and very much as if it was just a tag-on of the "how do I end this now?" variety. It makes no sense based on what we have seen of Benoit previously. Throughout, Benoit is a very superficial character, we really get no insight into his feelings or thought processes, and without that, he comes over as cold, selfish, and arbitrary in his actions. You don't feel the sympathy for him that you should. Maybe you are meant to read behind his actions but in my view, too much is left to the imagination .

few admirable scenes. good acting. pieces of a story about a form of fight against life. an exercise by Xavier Beauvois not to convince but to give a sort of testimony about empty life. and the result is not bad. maybe,in some scenes, forced. a film about purpose, honest in its good intentions, cruel in a classic manner , cry from a long tradition, using the classical French cinema clichés but interesting for its beautiful moments. far to be great, it is body for delicate, precise images and that is its basic virtue. so, a good work, touching, cold, in same measure, not coherent at all but the kind of show who remains as few crumbs of memories.

Saw this on line (on MUBI, the only place I could find it, and a good, legitimate source for some more obscure foreign and indie films) and would love to see it again on a bigger screen.

Low key but intense, this follows a young man who tries to evade his army service with a false suicide, only to find out he has HIV at a time when it was more a death sentence. His life spins out of controls as he turns to drug use and drug dealing to hide his pain, and forget his impending demise.

Then he meets a woman who offers some hope and real love, but can he actually accept it, knowing how short his horizon is?

The acting is good, but not great, and some of the character turns are sudden to the point of feeling almost arbitrary. Some memorable scenes and images, but it all stays pretty distanced and unemotional. A second viewing would be instructional.

this movie started off very slow, and unfortunately ended slower. due to the lack of maturity of the screenwriter, the director, and the star (all the same person - xavier beauvois) its hard to believe this film was released. fortunately, the powers-that-be in the European film industry chose not to release his next film. i saw this film under the auspices of the prix jean virgo film series at nyc's MoMA, & now question the quality of the future films selected to be exhibited.

this story unfolds in a very odd and uninformed way so that the audience is unfamiliar with preceding events, & therefore, has very little sympathy with the main character. without going into any detail of the movie, the ending is so undeveloped, again one wonders how this film was allowed to be financed. i love french films, & understand this unspoken rule of the "good with the bad...", so i do accept the occasional clinker. sadly, the wonderful actor, roschdy zem, participated in this farce. as to chiara mastroianna, she being the product of two cinema giants, i find her role difficult to define. maybe as an "angel" or as a "diversion", or simply an odd inclusion for no real reason, because "if" one were to follow the story line, there would be no woman in the latter stages of this movie.

at the end of the day; when french movies are good, its such a pleasure, when bad, they can be incredibly boring.

From escaping from the military service in the very beginning to ultimately becoming a soldier and recklessly urging for death, like a moth to a flame, the whole movie is like a reverse of "Ikiru". It's a movie about waiting for death. It's not so hard for us to notice that the movie is comprised of many events that are not connected at all. We could say it's meaningless, but it might show the true reaction of people who know they're going to die. Despite some immorality, it would be difficult for me to judge Benoit harshly.