Goodbye Cruel World

“Milo Machado-Graner and newcomer Jane Beever shine in the directorial debut of Félix de Givry."

"A twist on a coming-of-age romance, Goodbye Cruel World recalls certain works by François Truffaut and Maurice Pialat."

"A remarkably assured debut feature overall, ending on an especially beautiful note both visually and aurally."

"Like his key early collaborator Mia Hansen-Løve, de Givry shows great promise as a maker of intimate, humanist works."

"The film triumphs in its visuals and, in particular, its triumphant lighting design. De Givry and cinematographer Tara-Jay Bangalter have an eye for a pleasing composition in any case, but a large number are particularly elevated by a skillful mediation between light and dark."

"What really makes Goodbye Cruel World sing is Machado-Graner's performance. He carries the emotional weight of the whole film almost entirely alone."

"It's not simply the case that every frame is a picture; it's that these frames all feel like a series of interconnected pictures that make an intriguing whole."

"De Givry's passion feels truly singular amongst the many opening-career efforts here at Cannes."

"Forgoing any contemporary trendiness, with its retro and cinephilic obsessions, it finds an original way to put across the preciousness of life."

"Félix de Givry's directorial feature debut transforms despair into a delicate lullaby."

"The film's 16mm cinematography by Tara-Jay Bangalter gives the film a sense of unvarnished realism, still warm and tactile, invitingly textured rather than coarse."

"It is a delicate dance that de Givry and co-writer Marie-Stéphane Imbert thus initiate, balancing at all times between suggestions of bottomless sadness and an appealing, at times almost swoon-worthy lightness."

“A Truffaldian touch.”

“Goodbye Cruel World confirms the exceptional quality of the French selection within the Critics' Week section."

"Félix de Givry stages a tale of fragile, anxious yet stubborn youth in this promising debut."

"Bathed in chiaroscuro light and lulled by the deceptively soothing voiceover of Françoise Lebrun. The film draws the viewer into its restless poetry."

"A sensitive, controlled, and deeply inhabited debut film."

"Félix de Givry films this vagrancy with an almost tactile texture, a grain that recalls the French New Wave cinema."

"Milo Machado-Graner impresses with his restraint and precision. He embodies Otto with a contained vulnerability that makes the character immediately moving."

"Fragile and powerful in equal measure, Goodbye Cruel World moves us through its modesty, its trust in human faces, and its rare ability to kindle hope at the very heart of despair."