Film Review: Good Grief (2024)
As a ‘Schitt’s Creek’ super fan, I couldn’t wait for Dan Levy’s directorial debut ‘Good Grief’ to arrive on Netflix earlier this month. He leads an all-star cast including Luke Evans, Ruth Negga, Himish Patel, David Bradley and Celia Imrie.
The films follows the story of artist Marcus (Levy) who grieves the loss of his famous writer husband Oliver (Evans) who dies in a car accident at the beginning of the movie. The timeline follows the year after Oliver’s death and how Marcus is supported in his grieving by his two friends whilst they also deal with challenges of their own.
David Bradley’s eulogy
Within the first 20 minutes of this movie I was sitting sobbing at the screen. If you are unsure of who David Bradley is, he is the iconic English actor who portrays ‘Argus Filch’ in the ‘Harry Potter’ films. I very recently watched him in ‘Harry Brown’ where he portrays the murdered pensioner Leonard. I think those emotions were still raw and pairing them with his beautiful eulogy in ‘Good Grief’ was of course going to be an emotional disaster for me.
Bradley portrays Oliver’s father and laments about his childhood as a writer of princess centric stories proving he was always unequivocally himself. This writing from Levy was powerful and when you have stunning dialogue paired with an utmost professional actor you’re onto a scene stealing performance.
That Christmas card
Before leaving the house for his work trip Oliver hands Marcus a Christmas card that remained unopened nearly the entire year after his death. Once opened, Marcus learns that Oliver had met someone else and was going to leave him. This is where grief turns to rage, anger and disbelief. After this revelation, Marcus heads to Paris with his friends on a journey of self-discovery that makes the trio face some hard hitting truths.
At this stage of the film, the many layers of grief are evident from anger, complicated feelings to despair of conversations that never happened and will never be possible. Visually the film is gorgeous and at a respectful pace to match the storyline. None more than their time in Paris where things quickly go from zero to hundred to the worst dinner party of all time.
Sophie, put your cigarette out
Negga’s character ‘Sophie’ at many times throughout the movie was quite annoying but none more than when she was lighting up ciggies in Oliver’s stunning Parisian apartment. It’s not 2004, it’s 2023 what are you doing love? Literally the greatest disrespect of a friend’s house is smoking inside the walls.
Further, when your grieving friend takes you on a free trip to Paris covering accommodation and travel surely the thing not to do is arrange a date and an awkward meet up with a group of French people? This struck me as especially insane as personally I love travelling but I never make travel friends as I fear being found at the side of a road.
Praise for Dan Levy
I give “Good Grief” a solid 8/10, it is a strong start for Levy who has undeniable talent both on-screen and behind the camera. He has a unique voice that is unapologetically true to his being and showing LGBTQ+ relationships as something not to shame, nor to ridicule but to understand, accept and respect. I am very excited to see what is to come in the future for Dan Levy however he will always hold a special place in my heart as David Rose, my spirit animal.