Modern audiences are more likely to find the character's behavior to be extremely frustrating, undercutting any sympathetic response one might have for his situation.
Comment
09/30/06
Time to Leave (2006)
76
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:50
Fresh:38
Rotten:12
Average Rating:6.6/10
Consensus: A reflective look at our own mortality through the experience of a middle-aged French man, Time To Leave manages to pull at our heart strings without resorting to cliches, and leaves a lasting impression.
Theatrical Release:12-05-2006
Synopsis: Melvil Poupaud gives an extraordinary, complex performance in TIME TO LEAVE (LE TEMPS QUI RESTE), written and directed by iconoclastic French auteur François Ozon (8 WOMEN, SWIMMING POOL). Poupaud... [More]
Starring: Melvil Poupaud, Jeanne Moreau, Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, Daniel Duval
Director: Francois Ozon
Reviews for Time to Leave
A beautiful, frank and utterly absorbing examination of death.
09/07/06
It's affecting.
09/07/06
Simply treats death as life's final curveball, with Romain solemnly and bravely letting the hourglass trickle down as it will.
09/07/06
Sumptuously filmed but rather distant.
08/17/06
We watch Romain change as he struggles with his mortality and, as he does, we come to care about him.
08/17/06
Has its effective moments of restrained intimacy but lacks the depth to give the slow-going narrative much impact.
08/01/06
Much of the film works to undercut any sense of real emotion.
07/28/06
Pointless, crushingly dull "disease of the week" film [about] a shallow, selfish, gay fashion photographer.
07/28/06
maintains its focus and disturbs appropriately
07/26/06
Romain sees his inner child wherever he goes. The problem is, that childishness is all we really understand about the character. Nothing else punches through.
07/21/06
It's about a gay man coming to terms with his mortality, and, in a plot twist that's as contrived as it is ironic, with the biblical injunction to procreate.
07/21/06
Time to Leave blows a fresh, skeptical wind through fairly corny melodramatic territory while keeping faith with the operatic emotions of the genre.
07/20/06
...surprisingly unengaging [and] utterly devoid of humor.
07/20/06
Ozon's drama offers no rousing speeches about living to the fullest, or heartfelt soliloquies on the nature of existence, only a bitterly honest admission that death happens to everyone and there is no use trying to stop it.
07/19/06
Romain is ruthlessly true to himself, and the film's final scene, which begins on a crowded beach and ends as everyone who can goes home, is stunningly haunting.
07/14/06
As in any Ozon film, there are indelible performances from strong women here.
07/14/06
Time to Leave just might be Ozon's best work yet. He tackles a sensitive, off-putting subject with a dignity that will put viewers at ease.
07/14/06
Ozon transplants the melodrama genre to the here and now, taking a sentimental form and adding frank sexuality (is that a prosthetic Mr. Poupard or are you in the moment?) and a steely attitude.
07/14/06
A cinematic tone poem, wafting on wistful tableaus and sad faces....mostly elaborates on how death must ultimately be a personal experience.
07/14/06
Latest News for Time to Leave
July 13, 2006:
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This week at the movies, we've got some unwanted houseguests, in the guise of a guy with a bad case of arrested development ("You, Me and Dupree," starring Owen... More...
June 15, 2006:
"Puccini For Beginners" Opens 30th Frameline Film Fest
Maria Maggenti's "Puccini For Beginners" will open the 30th annual Frameline Film Festival this week in San Francisco, headlining one of the largest and... More...
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