Dan Levy’s feature film directorial debut is a solid, melancholy success that proves the award-winning comedy actor’s range is one we should all be looking out for. Good Grief isn’t innovative or supremely unique, but it’s a heartfelt film that encapsulates a broad scope of complex human emotions with messy individuals working toward growth.
The film stars Levy’s character, Marcus, grieving the sudden loss of his husband, Oliver (Luke Evans), and trying to navigate the tumultuous pain of perpetual heartache. After finally opening the Christmas card he had left, Marc learns that Oliver had met someone; taking his frustrations and heartbreak into his own hands, he takes his two best friends, Sophie (Ruth Negga) and Thomas (Himesh Patel), on a trip to Paris where they’ll spend money and make big mistakes like his husband would’ve wanted. Only his friends don’t know about the secret he’s keeping until Luca (Mehdi Baki) walks into the apartment during a stirring argument. In what turns out to be an influx of emotions whirling through important and necessary conversations, Levy underscores not only the vitality of friendships but of thorough communication.
Grief is perhaps the most challenging emotion to convey, yet simultaneously an effortless inclusion for those who know of its haunting impact. It’s an emotion open to countless forms of interpretation because anyone who knows what it’s like will view it through a personal lens. Still, it’s always profound and poignant in its means of showcasing humanity and the ever-present tinge of sadness so many of us carry. If nothing else, Dan Levy ensures that its complexities are palpable and honest, which is largely what makes Good Grief a beautiful film. The sentimental tone he maintains makes the film feel warm and heartfelt despite the convoluted emotions the characters are living through.
In situations like this, one character (typically the cheater) is often, and for good reason, vilified. But it’s interesting how Levy pans out the narrative beats by having Marc open up to a potential new love interest, Theo (Arnaud Valois), about how there was always an agreement of an open marriage with specific rules that Oliver broke with this blow. With this detail, the film still highlights Marc’s love and respect for his late husband while showing the audience Oliver’s big mistakes through a sense of grace. Good Grief isn’t about perfect people; instead, it’s a film about the artistry of imperfections and the importance of going through the grieving process.
Marc’s open conversations with Theo about not grieving his mother properly and fearing that he’s doing the same with Oliver are so innately human that it’s refreshing to see such a depiction of loss. It’s ultimately why films like this matter, even if they aren’t some groundbreaking phenomena because as Oliver says, you can’t do what’s already been done (in reference to painting like Monet), but you can do something. And here, Dan Levy does something by giving someone somewhere the very film that they’ll need to push them through the engulfing heartaches breaking their being day after day.
As a screenwriter, Levy knows how to pack heart with action to create the necessary tension that leads to understanding with lightness. Good Grief features both stoic moments of humor and a ton of empathy to move not only Marc’s character journey but Sophie and Thomas’s, too. With that, both Ruth Negga and Himesh Patel deliver excellent performances to show us the aspects of their characters individually and within the friend group. These quiet (and very loud) beats we get with the story highlight how communication evolves people and where it leads them when there’s genuine love, even amid all the fears and uncertainties. The found family elements hit all the right marks through raw honesty, ultimately serving as the film’s beating heart.
With his directorial vision, Dan Levy highlights mundanity with such a striking lens that it effectively delivers the necessary emotions while exploring lavishness through an artful spectrum. Between the museum scene and everything we get inside the house, focusing subtly on humankind in big and small spaces vulnerably elevates the immensity of grief. It’s clear as day that Levy is a passionate filmmaker, and it’ll be intriguing to see how he continues to evolve through the years.
Good Grief might not be everyone’s story, but it’s undoubtedly somebody’s, and it’s full of a steady amount of empathy that films these days sorely lack. It doesn’t spoon-feed the audience with emotions and life lessons but it carefully presents them through a lived-in and genuine tone that gets the message across. And with a superb cast, each moment is more evocative than the last, making the film a lovely deconstruction of humanity.
Dan Levy’s Good Grief is now streaming on Netflix.