This Is the End

During the pandemic, the European filmmaker travels to Los Angeles, which is no stranger to spectacle and disaster. Under the Hollywood sign, being constantly in motion is de rigueur: never stop, never look too closely, never develop a feeling of being here. Long tracking shots from the safety of the Ford Mustang take in the city, whose shimmering surfaces reflect back to the filmmaker his own perspective, shaped by cultural criticism. The voids diagnosed by Baudrillard and Bégout, the missing connections, the meaninglessness, the end of the world which has perhaps already occurred, look surprisingly exciting through the tired eyes of the Old World: a 40-year-old love story is rekindled, love’s movements fall out of the cool flow of time, coyotes conquer the gardens, snakes swim in the pools. A chorus of actors share doomsday poems by E. E. Cummings, Ocean Vuong, Claudia Rankine and more with each other; these voices from the New World interrupt the French commentary. And two 70-plus bodies from two extinct worlds synchronise tenderly with the cinema of attractions.

details

  • Runtime

    108 min
  • Country

    France
  • Year of Presentation

    2023
  • Year of Production

    2023
  • Director

    Vincent Dieutre
  • Cast

    Dino Koutsolioutsos, Vincent Dieutre, Eva Truffaut, Jean-Marc Barr, Nelson Bourrec Carter, Geoffrey Carey, Darrell Davis, Laurie Karp, Keja-Ho Kramer, Elina Lowensohn, Kate Moran
  • Production Company

    La Huit Production
  • Berlinale Section

    Forum
  • Berlinale Category

    Documentary Film

Biography Vincent Dieutre

Born in Petit-Quevilly, France, in 1960. He studied film at the IDHEC film school in Paris, during which time he made his first short films and videos. Along with making films, Dieutre works as a film journalist, editor and translator.

Filmography Vincent Dieutre

1984 Une martyre | 1985 Wiener Blut | 1986 Arrière saison | 1988 Lettres de Berlin | 1995 Rome désolée | 2000 Leçons de ténèbres | 2001 Bonne Nouvelle | 2003 Bologna Centrale | 2003 Mon voyage d’hiver | 2004 Les accords d’Alba | 2006 Fragments sur la grâce | 2007 Después de la Revolución | 2013 Déchirés/Graves | 2013 Orlando Ferito – Roland Blessé | 2016 Trilogie de nos vies défaites | 2019 Berlin Based