EUyeshima Review of Good Grief

Good Grief (IV) (2023)

Loss and Entitlement Among Rarefied Characters

[3/10 · 8 January 2024]

The title of this 2023 melodrama is appropriate but not for the reason director/writer/star Daniel Levy intended. It's what I was uttering in frustration throughout its interminable running time. The story revolves around Marc, a creatively blocked artist mourning the sudden loss of his husband Oliver, a successful fantasy adventure novelist, in a cab accident. He seeks solace in his two best friends by spending time with them in a plush Paris apartment that Marc is shocked to discover that Oliver bought for an extramarital relationship just before his death. Levy gradually reveals aspects of their marriage as well as other characters, which just felt like convenient plot contrivances. As Marc, Levy removes any trace of his trademark comedy style and acts in a constantly bereft state. As a director, he does no favors to Himesh Patel ("Yesterday") and especially Ruth Negga ("Passing"), both of whom have done far better work elsewhere. They play entitlement to the hilt as Marc's hopelessly self-involved best friends. The whole venture felt like an extended Pottery Barn commercial populated by people leading rarefied lives unworthy of empathy.