Suddenly Alone in the World
Gilles Lellouche and Mélanie Thierry are aboard a boat. But the vessel disappears after a storm. The couple then finds themselves alone on a deserted island that is, understandably, Instagram-perfect, but unlivable in reality. The short getaway of a few hours becomes an indefinite nightmare, with no option but to fight to survive, wait, and hope.
In the survival-in-hostile-environment category, Suddenly Alone sits somewhere between Cast Away (Tom Hanks and his volleyball) and All Is Lost (Robert Redford, solo and adrift at sea). There is only a man, a woman, three planks of wood and a few penguins in this pure tableau of solitude, adapted from the navigator Isabelle Autissier’s 2015 book.
And the nightmare almost happened behind the scenes. Announced in 2021, the project was to be shot in English, with actor-producer Jake Gyllenhaal and Vanessa Kirby, for a budget of $25 million. The whole crew arrived in Iceland to prepare the shoot two months before filming, but after four days, everything was halted. Thomas Bidegain explained to Technikart that Jake Gyllenhaal “was now contesting every scene, the slightest line of dialogue, the tiniest comma. And it became hell”. The actor even tried to buy the rights to make the film his way, but producer Alain Attal refused.
Suddenly with Jake Gyllenhaal and Vanessa Kirby became Suddenly Alone with Gilles Lellouche and Mélanie Thierry. And perhaps for the better, since the film is carried by two outstanding performers, and by a remarkably simple, sober, and raw approach.
Mélanie Thierry, the Hermit
Suddenly Alone could have degenerated into a simple couple’s film, but the real subject goes beyond that. Ben and Laura are in love, but they could have been something else entirely since this is above all the story of a relationship put to the test by every trial, physical or mental. In the face of cold and despair, isn’t love—and thus humanity—the first to melt away and disappear? What remains of the little romantic paradise (a lovers’ escape aboard a sailboat) when everything becomes hell?
From there, the film obviously rests on its performers, excellent. Unless you’ve never seen Gilles Lellouche outside of broad comedies (and thus not in Jeanne Herry or Cédric Jimenez), and unless you’ve never seen Mélanie Thierry in a feature film, it’s not really surprising.
Yet this is the real strength: it’s a perfect duo. Especially Mélanie Thierry, whose character traverses all the shades of the nightmare, both intimate and epic. In tears and screams, in silences and voids, the actress is fantastic. As she almost always is.
BLUE IS THE SEA, WHITE IS DEATH
The other face of Suddenly Alone is even whiter and harsher than those of Mélanie Thierry and Gilles Lellouche: it’s the immensity of white, peaceful and merciless. Halfway through, the film takes a decisively spectacular turn toward an adventure and survival narrative, and that’s where everything (the writing, the direction, the characters) becomes much stronger and more intense. Suddenly, anything seems possible, especially the worst. And that’s exactly what this story needed.
Suddenly Alone then earns its title, as Thomas Bidegain’s camera lingers on this white hell, alternating between the grand (the frozen, endless horizon) and the intimate (a few especially extreme scenes of suffering). In these suspended, timeless moments, where humanity is nothing more than a tiny crumb of flesh in a world that feels alien, the film gains a sensational dimension.
In the right place, at the right distance, Thomas Bidegain follows this journey without pulling out the violins or exaggerating the misadventures. For this nightmare is almost calm and gentle, as the omnipresence of silence and emptiness proves, and it’s precisely this that makes it so captivating.
How to close such a tale? There were two obvious, extreme choices, with the inevitable risk of disappointment in one direction or the other. Suddenly Alone goes to the end of its initial idea, and still lands on its feet with the same simplicity, effectiveness, and emotion.
