Good Grief

Daniel Levy proves his directorial chops with a luvvie fest set in London and Paris.

Grieving beautifully: Jamael Westman, Himesh Patel, Ruth Negga and Daniel Levy

Of course, no grief is good, but Marc’s terrible loss is cushioned by friendship, expensive clothes and fabulous interiors. In Marc’s London, everybody is gay, artistic, liberal and sophisticated. Marc himself (with a small ‘c’, note) is a painter, and his extravagant husband, Oliver (Luke Evans), is a novelist in the midst of unfolding a wildly popular literary serial (for which Marc is illustrator). Their close circle of hedonistic conspirators are gay to a man, save for Ruth Negga’s token hetero, whose minority spirit is evidenced by her native Irish accent. Marc himself is Canadian and is played by Daniel Levy, for whom this is his directorial debut. And he’s a terrific director, allowing his co-stars a generous space and providing them with luscious backdrops of commodious, well-appointed apartments and the nicest bits of West London and central Paris. All he’s failed to neglect is a satisfactory storyline.

Essentially, Good Grief is a series of contemplative vignettes which follow a boisterous Christmas party where we are introduced to our dramatis personae. Oliver is off for a book signing in Paris and his last, valedictory words are: “I love you animals. Make big mistakes!” Levy’s film, based on his own screenplay, is full of smart, insightful lines, observations you can just imagine him scribbling down in a notebook on his treks up the Avenue des Champs-Élysées. There’s an air of Woody Allen about the interconnected relationships in urban spaces, without the jokes. His characters are more credible than Allen’s, but they still need more to do. At least An American in Paris had dance numbers and not the inevitable karaoke session.

Unfortunately for Levy, some of the best films ever made have dealt with grief, from Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now to Todd Field’s In the Bedroom – and Levy’s debut merely comes up for air with a rueful grimace. He’s better at ambience and it is a huge pleasure to watch his scenes unfold in Covent Garden or in a private gallery exhibiting Monet’s Waterlilies. But for the viewer to take away something more, the scripter needed to provide a narrative spike, not a series of missed opportunities. A ride on a Ferris wheel in Paris is a typical waste of film. Negga, when she’s not necking another glass of wine or chewing on her Limerick accent, is actually an irritant in the bromantic oyster. Levy himself, as Marc and as director, keeps sentimentality at bay and has provided well-shaded characters for his support. However, when yet another character bares his soul to the camera, the mask of credibility begins to slip.

JAMES CAMERON-WILSON

Cast: Daniel Levy, Ruth Negga, Himesh Patel, Celia Imrie, David Bradley, Arnaud Valois, Emma Corrin, Kaitlyn Dever, Luke Evans, Medhi Baki, Jamael Westman. 

Dir Daniel Levy, Pro Daniel Levy, Megan Zehmer, Debra Hayward and Kate Fenske, Screenplay Daniel Levy, Ph Ole Bratt Birkeland, Pro Des Alice Normington, Ed Jonathan Corn, Music Rob Simonsen, Costumes Julian Day. 

Not A Real Production Company/Sister-Netflix.
100 mins. USA. 2023. UK and US Rel: 5 January 2024. Cert. 15 .

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