Declaration of War (Valérie Donzelli, 2011): France

Review by Bethany Burns. Viewed at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Metro 4 Theater.

This dark but spirited film portrayed the lives of two young lovers who meet one fateful night and fall madly in love with each other.  I though this film,  directed by Valerie Donzelli was nothing short of inspiring.   It stays true to the ideology that love is not enough to keep two people together, it takes hard work and dedication to one another.  Written by and starring  Valerie Dozelli and Jeremie Elkaim, the two play the parts so perfectly in sync that the audience is immediately sucked into the whirlwind romance the couple find themselves in within the first 5 minutes of the film.  Staying true to the story of Romeo and Juliette the two meet, fall in love at first sight, but are doomed to a horrible fate.

Romeo (Jeremie Elkaim) and Juliette (Valerie Donzelli) meet in a bar and find themselves in a whirl wind romance that lands them very quickly with a child. While all is well on the outside, a dark future awaits the couple and their newborn.  As baby Adam displays signs of ill health and the seed of worry is planted within his parents core.  As he grows older Adam begins to show signs of developmental problems.  He is late to start walking, and habitually vomits up his meals entirely. When the right side of his face begins to droop, and his head begins to tilt the couple decide to take a deeper look into the source of these problems.

Upon finding out their 1 year old baby has a very large tumor in his brain that is infecting his brain stem, the couple immediately decide to have an operation to remove the tumor.  Throughout the progress of the story, a slew of characters are introduced who help the couple deal with this long and tumultuous journey.  Juliette comes from a wealthy conservative family, her mother (Michelle Moretti), father (Phillipe Laudenbach)  and 2 sisters) who give them all the financial support they can while trying to cope themselves.  Romeo’s family is his mother (Brigitte Sy), her life partner (Elina Lowensohn) and his best friend (Bastien Bouillon). This fanatical group of characters are all brought together by their love for baby Adam, and a new family bond is created. My favorite scene being when Romeo and Juliette come out of the surgery to announce it’s success, and every member of both families take a sip from the bottle of champagne Juliette’s sister has brought to the hospital.

The film ends with Adam at age 8, his face still drooping, but his cancer in remission.  His parents lived with him in the hospital for 2 years while he underwent chemo as a baby. They fought, broke up and got back together numerous times over the course of this trial of will power. In the end, you see the family twirling and running down the beach together, as love has conquered all.

The beautiful cinematography paired with the amazing cast truly appeal to the emotions of anyone who believes in the power of love, and the undying support of family. This film is so raw, it leaves you laughing until you cry. I found myself comparing my own trials to that of  Romeo and Juliette, and when it all came to a close I asked myself;

Would I have been able to do the same?