Second feature film directed by the English actor and director Harry Macqueen, “Supernova” could well upset your return to cinema. Discover without further delay this beautiful drama worn by Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci.
WHAT DOES IT TALK ABOUT ?
Sam and Tusker have loved each other for 20 years. Aboard their old motorhome, they visit their friends and family and return to the places of their youth. Since Tusker has become seriously ill, all their plans have been put on hold. Time is running out and being together is now the most precious thing. However, this last trip will put their love to the test.
LOVE TO DEATH
What if the most beautiful tears of your return to the cinema were hiding there, in the 94 minutes that Supernova lasts? Directed by English actor Harry Macqueen (seen in Orson Welles & me), who signs his second feature film as a director after Hinterland, this drama is as moving as it shows great delicacy in the treatment subject. When he favors gestures, looks and unspoken words to effusions worthy of a melodrama.
The disease that affects Chester (Stanley Tucci) is for example never clearly named, even if the future effects of his dementia are evoked in a speech as sober as it is overwhelming. And more than one spectator will wonder if Harry Macqueen did not put a little experience in his film, given the accuracy of the whole.
The filmmaker was actually inspired by three true stories: that of a colleague, dismissed after becoming more and more distant and incompetent, and died six months later; and that of a close friend who, a few days later, was forced to place his father in a retirement home when he had just celebrated his 65th birthday.
KMBO Stanley Tucci and Colin Firth
Finally, a documentary on a man going to a clinic in Switzerland to legally end his life also moved him in addition to inspiring him with one of the central issues of the feature film: the difference of opinion between Sam, who wants to be with his companion until the last moment, without being afraid of difficult times, and Chester who refuses to become a burden when he is no longer the driver but the passenger of a life that takes him on a road he didn’t want to take.
Originally envisioned for the role of Sam, Stanley Tucci ultimately plays Chester. And he is perfect in the skin of this character quite unheard of in his rich career. The couple he forms with Colin Firth immediately strikes us with its sensitivity and the bond that unites them, even if homosexuality is not the main subject of the film.
“It’s the story of two people who love each other – and they turn out to be gay”, explains Harry Macqueen in the press kit. “It could be a heterosexual couple and it would not matter. The fact that it is a gay couple does add a special dimension and I think it’s important to show it . “ The filmmaker also describes his opus as “a romantic, original and modern love story. It’s an intimate tale that revolves around one of the biggest questions we can ask ourselves: how can we continue to live, to love and to laugh , when we know we are doomed? “
Failing to give a clear answer, Supernova never falls into pathos and miserability, any more than its actors seek performance. Simple and sober, the feature film plunges us into a bubble of sweetness where it quickly knows how to touch us in the heart.
