It's Only the End of the World (play)

It's Only the End of the World[1] (French: Juste la fin du monde) is a 1990 French play by Jean-Luc Lagarce. It is about a character named Louis who returns to his family to announce his terminal illness.

It's Only the End of the World
Book cover
Written byJean-Luc Lagarce
Date premiered 1990 (1990-MM)
Original languageFrench

Lagarce wrote the play in 1990,[2] when he was considering his own death.[1] In 2008, the Comédie-Française added the play to its repertoire.[3] It won the 2008 Molière Award for Best Show in a National Theatre.[4] In 2016, it was adapted into a film of the same name.

Analysis

Louis returns home surprisingly, and suddenly leaves, after family members give monologues of varying lengths, sometimes repeating themselves or violating proper grammar.[5] The characters' struggle to communicate, sometimes attempting to restate what they meant, is a theme in the play, illustrated by a scene where Suzanne criticizes two family members for shaking hands like strangers.[2] Contradictory stage directions state the play is set on "a Sunday", but also covers almost one year.[5]

Film adaptation
Main article: It's Only the End of the World

Canadian director Xavier Dolan said that when he originally read the play, he felt lost, citing its style and the aggressive nature of the characters. He later re-read it, saying "One day, I don't know what it was, I pulled it off my shelf and suddenly understood and appreciated this weird and verbose writing style."[6]

Dolan described the extensive work required to adapt the stage play for film:[7]

I tried to keep the idiosyncrasies and the singularity of Lagarce's vernacular as much as I could.... The play is verbose, the language nervous, and prolix. The characters correct their own grammar constantly, beating themselves up, rewording their own sentences. I kept all that as is, basically - but evidently had to cut down many monologues in size, and some episodes were of course dropped. What was really reshaped is the structure. The second half of the play is almost entirely abstract. Characters talk to everyone and no one, all on stage, yet in different places.... It was very theatrical, I guess, and didn’t provide us with a proper build-up. The climax in the play is only between the lead role and his brother, and is 8 pages long.... So I had to recycle bits and pieces from earlier scenes, omitted scenes and scenes I invented from scratch in order to write a second half, and the end.

Dolan's film won the Grand Prix at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival and other honours.

References
  1. Finburgh, C.; Lavery, C. (May 17, 2011). Contemporary French Theatre and Performance. Springer. p. 48. ISBN 0230305660.
  2. Mounsef, Donia (2007). The Transparency of the Text: Contemporary Writing for the Stage. Yale University Press. p. 26. ISBN 0300118198.
  3. Burgwinkle, William; Hammond, Nicholas; Wilson, Emma (February 24, 2011). The Cambridge History of French Literature. Cambridge University Press. p. 611. ISBN 0521897866.
  4. Bouvet, Bruno (28 May 2008). "L'énergie solaire de Laurent Stocker". La Croix. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  5. Borowski, Mateusz; Sugiera, Małgorzata (April 16, 2010). Worlds in Words: Storytelling in Contemporary Theatre and Playwriting. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 69. ISBN 1443821799.
  6. Galuppo, Mia (12 February 2016). "Canadian Helmer Xavier Dolan on Adapting 'It's Only the End of the World'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  7. Roxborough, Scott (17 May 2016). "Cannes: Xavier Dolan on His Competition Entry and His Love of 'Home Alone'". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
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