Declaration of War (Valérie Donzelli, 2011): France

Reviewed by Andrea Uttenthal. Viewed at the Santa Barbara Film Festival, 2012.

Declaration of War is a deeply moving film about a heartening race against time to save the life of a newborn child.

Roméo and Juliette are the two young leading actors. They meet at a party, where they make eye contact from across the room. When they introduce each other, Juliette says:  “We’re in for a terrible destiny”. They fall in love at first sight and start founding a home like so many other couples. What they don’t know is that their joy soon will be shadowed by foreboding.
Soon after their child, Adam, is born, they discover he suffers from a malignant brain tumor. From now on, war is declared. Roméo and Juliette must face the ultimate test keeping hope and love alive, and they are forced to stay strong along the terrifying process of cancer. They gather their friends and family, and together they confront the ordeal together as a form of warfare.

The French director, Valérie Donzelli, who also plays Juliette in the film, has chosen an unexpected strength by using a host of cinematic techniques, different genres of music and of course the heartbreaking performances of the lead actors. It all results in a film about a couple who surprises even themselves with their ability to fight – not only for the life of their child, but for each other as well.

Through out the film the main focus in based on emotions, when talking about cinematography and editing. There is a great use of close-ups as well as shots of chaos, frustration, sadness etc. so that you get the feel of the characters. One shot that really got to me, was when the doctors tell Juliette about her sons illness. Here she just starts running, the shot is blurring and shaking and after this time of frustration, she passes out on the floor in the hospital corridor. This shot is full of emotions and you can easily feel the situation Juliette is being put through. Her world is shaking and she cannot she clear/the future.
Juliette has difficulty tolerating Roméo’s impatience and he has to calm her down several times. Together they learn how crisis can penetrate a daily life with a surreal and zany urgency. It’s all about heightened emotions.

Throughout the movie there is some spontaneous moments. There is a scene where Roméo and Juliette are laying in a hospital bed sharing their worst fears about the future, including the operation of their sons brain. Their fantasies turn from grim to comically ridiculous, when they imagine him getting blind, deaf, dumb, handicapped, midget, black, gay and so on.  It shows that even though they’re scared about the future, they still have the energy to show a little humor. They also go out with their friends and try to keep a regular life giving the circumstances.

There is a use of different narrators throughout the film. These narrators break in at seemingly arbitrary moments to kind of hasten the story along, and when not helping the film to sustain its pace, it sometimes felt like annoying interruptions. I think most of the story is told from Roméo’s point of view, but later in the film a dispassionate narrator describes the toll of the ordeal on Roméo and Juliette’s relationship. It feels like a shortcut that has skipped over some crucial dramatic events in their life. It’s like they had to end the film quickly, so we get a lot information before getting to the last scenes of the film.

Worth mentioning is that the film takes its inspiration from what actually happened to director Valérie Donzelli and her husband Jérémie Elkaïm, whose own son had a near-fatal illness. Their son Gabriel Elkaïm also appeared in the film as the older Adam (Adam at 8 years).  One time in the film, the couple ask themselves the frustrating question: “Why Adam?” , and they conclude it has happen to them, because they can overcome.

Declaration of War feels entirely alive and the story touches you deeply as you follow the couple who learn how to transform fear into action. It’s all you can do as well as keeping all hopes alive and staying strong.