Heal the Living

Television has done much to diminish the mystique of the hospital saga, but Katell Quillévéré restores its lustre and basic sense of humanity in this sensitive but gripping adaptation of Maylis de Kerangal's bestseller. The transient nature of life is soberingly conveyed by the traffic accident that puts a teenage surfer in a coma. But, while estranged parents Emmanuelle Seigner and Kool Shen need space to grieve, time is of the essence for medics Bouli Lanners and Tahir Rahim, who hope to persuade them to donate their son's organs so that a life-saving operation can be performed on a middle-aged musician and mother of two. Resisting the temptation to cross-cut between storylines to generate suspense, Quillévéré skilfully overcomes an emotionally jarring transition between Le Havre and Paris by keeping the focus on the everyday details, picked up by Tom Harari's roving camerawork with a documentary-like detachment that's echoed in Alexandre Desplat's delicate piano score. Impeccable in every regard, this is medical melodrama at its best.