Time To Leave

This sad saga of a young man’s acceptance to his impending mortality was enliven, especially for me, by a new take on the concept of ‘Menage de trois.’ I think, the French are more qualified on such matters, and as the Wilson Owen character tells Carla Bruni in ‘Midnight in Paris’, are “evolved” in the matters of love.

So, Romain, who reacts to certain death by fighting with the people he loves, his family, his lover, and despite claiming that he doesn’t like children, finally agrees to impregnate a woman.

It’s a wonder why the woman in question did not go to a doctor and sought a sperm bank.

Anyway, a waitress in a roadside restaurant, she sees a handsome man, Romain. She meets him again a few days later, in the place where her husband works, and then she greets Romain and comes directly to the point: Her husband is impotent and as Romain is handsome, would he mind sleeping with her so that she can have a baby? When Romain is not sure about the proposition, she says she has saved up some money as well. When Romain is still unsure, she asks, “Do you have AIDS?”

No, he does not have AIDS, but he has terminal cancer. And he’s ready to die. Just like that.

Then he thinks. Even if he would be dead, he gets a chance to leave something of his life behind, in the shape of an unknown baby he’d never see. He agrees to impregnate the restaurant woman. The woman asks one last question, would his terminal condition would have any effect on the child. He says no, cancer, unlike AIDS or other diseases, not contagious.

But how about Romain’s genes, his personality?

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Time to Leave (French: Le Temps qui reste) is a French film directed by François Ozon, released in 2005. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival. More here.