Cannes Buzzes as Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s ‘All Of A Sudden’ Receives Enthusiastic 11-Minute Standing Ovation
After a brief lull, the Cannes Film Festival is gaining momentum, with notable audience reactions to two highly anticipated films.
The first, Jordan Firstman’s out-of-competition film, *Club Kid*, premiered earlier this afternoon, eliciting laughter and a seven-minute standing ovation from festival-goers.
Shortly after, director Ryusuke Hamaguchi presented *All of a Sudden*, drawing an enthusiastic 11-minute round of applause, accompanied by shouts of “bravo” from the audience. This reception followed a viewing of the film, which runs three hours and 16 minutes—the longest in this year’s competition.
While Firstman’s film delivered humor, *All of a Sudden* offers a more serious narrative, with many viewers noticeably moved to tears during the screening.
Following the screening, Hamaguchi embraced festival director Thierry Frémaux before raising the hands of cast members Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto in celebration amidst the crowd’s acclaim.
*All of a Sudden*, based on the book *When Life Suddenly Takes a Turn: Twenty Letters Between a Philosopher with Terminal Cancer and a Medical Anthropologist*, was adapted by Hamaguchi and co-writer Lea Le Dimna. The story revolves around philosopher Mikako Miyano, whose life is irrevocably altered by a cancer diagnosis, and medical anthropologist Maho Osona. Hamaguchi, inspired by the source material, envisioned a film that intertwines French and Japanese cultural elements to explore the evolving relationship between two women: Marie-Lou, a health care director at a French nursing home, played by Efira, and Mari, a Japanese visiting stage director portrayed by Okamoto, whose play about a psychiatric ward is performed nearby.
