A Life Begins / Une Vie Qiu Commence (Michael Monty,2010):Canada

Reviewed by Jim Burns. Viewed at the Santa Barbara Film Festival 2011.

Une Vie Qui Commence or A Life Begins is a smartly written and well acted film about a boy who is struggling with the recent passing of his father. Charles Antoine Perreault gives an amazing performance as young Etienne in this true story that starts out like a seemingly very happy and pleasant film but finishes in the dark shadows of drug addiction and a lost soul.

Michael Monty tells the story from a very interesting perspective, he is the youngest brother in this story and he was unfortunately supplied with a first-hand view of his brothers fall into drug addiction. In this story, Etienne is confused and searching for anything that will keep his father’s memory fresh in his mind when he comes across a box that is filled with the same drugs that caused his father’s overdose. Each time Etienne takes a pill, he takes notes on their effects and has a very strange and well organized system in doing so.

Michael Monty does a very nice job in creating  the illusion of  a very pleasant and happy world in the opening moments of this film. You kind of get the feeling that this is the beginning to a family film, but of course the film takes a drastic turn once Etienne’s father passes. After thinking about the film for quite sometime, I think the point Monty might have been trying to make with this choice in his introduction to the film is that nothing is what it seems to be . Basically, no family is without some kind dark issues, some are just better at hiding these things than others.

This seemingly perfect family was the stereotypical average middle class household with no major problems on the surface, but once faced with adversity and without the father figure around to lead and guide the family through the difficult times, this family, like so many other families fell apart at the seams. Michael Monty tells a story about a boy that loved and respected his father so much that his need to be like his father lead to his downward spiral into a life of drug addiction.

While the subject matter to this tragic story is definitely not a pick me up, I would strongly recommend seeing this film. If anything, the performance of Charles Antoine Perreault  is a must see and will make your  viewing experience worthwhile.