Euphoria

"To be one with the night," said the poet Gunnar Ekelöf "one with the crowds of flowers leaning out of darkness to listen to something I had on my tongue to say but never got said." Two sisters aim to get this chance, this moment together. Emilie is an extrovert, a New York photographer, and Ines is her polar opposite. They drifted apart in their adult years and Emilie is trying to pull them back together again with a mystery, luxury trip she is paying for deep in Eastern Europe. Ines agrees to go, yet comes to regret her decision when Emilie insists upon confronting their shared past and altering their future.

This deep meditation on life and mortality explores the nature of honesty and trust. It encourages us to live authentic lives, keep an open perspective and release internalized feelings. Actors Eva Green and Alicia Vikander are amazing, as is the supporting cast. I immensely enjoyed the classic introvert and extrovert clash. Even though it is a Swedish film, the actors speak English throughout. The soundtrack could have been better. Seen at the Toronto International Film Festival.

To me we don't see very often movies about dead and illness from this perspective. That's why I think it's not a common script and I like that despite it's a little bit slow.

Dusky Alice Vikander and a deadly pale Eva Green play estranged sisters who are somewhat uncomfortably reunited at an isolated, picturesque resort in some lush european idyll, a seemingly genteel environment wherein the well-to-do terminally sick are sensitively given the freedom to facilitate their own death in this conspicuously new-agey, spa-like environment. Acclaimed Writer/director Lisa Langseth's earnest, handsomely shot drama deals tastefully with a contentious theme that evocatively translates into austere, contemplative, if not consistently gripping cinema.

There's a curiously detached quality to the film-making, as though coolly observing the final anxious days of the desperately ailing Emilie (Eva Green) from afar, but the acting is of a high standard, and there are a number of earthy, well-written exchanges between the grieved, antagonistic sisters which rang true, and the always wonderful, preternaturally graceful Charlotte Rampling effortlessly expresses her inimitable gravitas. To be blunt, talky, introspective films about the weighty emotional complexities of assisted suicide are, by definition, going to be a niche affair, but I sincerely applaud Langseth for making it, and the final fragile moments of Emilie's bespoke 'leaving' was certainly impactful.

I was bored .. plain and simple. The story is beautiful, the emotions are there, the acting is great .. and the cinematography is spot on.

There are no surprises in the story, no twists. It is straight forward at a brisk pace towards the conclusion.

But you kind of have to be in the mood for a story about existence, questions of meaning, value of life and the human psyche - or you will likely be - bored.

That does not mean that the story was flawless. I couldnt stand the protatonists as well as most of the side characters. They were all terrible - as in terrible people. Lacking communication skills as well as coping mechanisms.

I also did not like the cult like setting .. with its somber mood and kind of "numbing filter" over everything. (kind of muted sounds, slow movement and all) and also poor world building. You do not see enough people that are not "protagonists" of this resort but that keep it running .. people that would be the polar opposite of the residents, people with meaning and purpose .. a side effect that should affect the entire "life" there.

Anyway, i could write up plenty of problems i had with the movie as a story .. but as i said, mainly because i was not in the mood for it.

Just pointing out IMDb's classification genre as adventure, drama. There is no adventure at all but a heck of a lot of well-acted drama. Secondly, plot synopsis "Sisters in conflict travelling through Europe toward a mystery destination.". Well, there is a tiny bit of travelling (car trip), but not through Europe and the mystery destination is arrived at about 15 minutes into the movie.

Not giving anything away here but I thought it was a well-acted drama on a contemporary and, for some, controversial subject. I "enjoyed" it but it might not be everyone's cup of tea.