Customer Reviews

Ceux Qui Restent (Original French Version with English Subtitles)

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Bertrand and Lorraine are those who remain while their partners are being treated in hospital as cancer patients. Bertrand's wife has terminal breast cancer and Lorraine's boyfriend has late stage colon cancer. It is late enough where he needs to excrete waste into a bag as his excretion organs were removed.

The interesting thing is that you never see these two patients. The film is entirely presented from the point of view of those who are NOT going to die. They meet one another in the hospital one day, exchange stories, eat together, share rides and essentially support one another through this ordeal.

One big difference is that Bertrand is married whereas Lorraine is merely the live in girlfriend. Both of them do things which are less than flattering to them as characters. She thinks she may break up with her boyfriend because of the bag. She doesn't think she can stand it. He tells her lies so that they don't get involved romantically, although sexually is ok. They do have a brief affair. He has a stepdaughter to contend with back home and she has no one. He is a very believable iffy stepparent. One doing ok at it but without ever really being involved with his stepdaughter.

As someone who has had cancer and whose husband had to hang around the same places, this is very realistic. Perhaps the most realistic part is that all you want to do when you get to the end of the experience is put all of it behind you.

I would not call this film depressing. I found it very absorbing and very different. The director of the film is also the actress who plays Lorraine.