Skip to main content
A Difficult Year film image; trio in a group hug

A Difficult Year

Une annee difficile

This event has passed

The latest from the jackpot writing-directing team Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano (Les Intouchables; The Specials) is a buddy comedy which finds a wry and original perspective on the serious theme of climate change denialism. Albert (Pio Marmaï) and Bruno (Jonathan Cohen) are unlikely heroes: their unscrupulous, excessive and addictive lifestyles bring them to thievery and homelessness; in fact they meet when Bruno attempts to steal Albert’s TV. They attend an eco activist meeting for the free drinks, but stick around when the charming Valentine (Noémie Merlant, Portrait of a Lady on Fire) takes an interest in them. Soon they’re participating in demonstrations and applying their skill-sets to saving the planet, but only to get close to the girl…

Hilarious… the filmmakers pull hard on the comedy lever and lean on their very sure, sincere and caring sense of empathy in order to convey their political message.

Fabien Lemercier, Cineuropa

There’s a simple charm to A Difficult Year as it makes some really complex social statements wrapped inside a charming love story and comedy of errors that is quite hard to look away from.

David Voigt, In the Seats

Directors

Éric Toledano & Olivier Nakache

Cast

Pio Marmaï, Jonathan Cohen, Noémie Merland, Mathieu Amalric

Credits
Country of Origin

France

Year

2023

Language

In French with English subtitles

19+
112 min

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Credits

Screenwriter

Éric Toledano, Olivier Nakache

Cinematography

Mélodie Préel

Editor

Dorian Rigal-Ansous

Original Music

Grandbrothers, GoGo Penguin

Production Design

Mila Préli

Also Playing

Karaoke

Dir. Moshe Rosenthal
103 min

When a flashy and affluent new guy moves into their apartment building as their upstairs neighbour, elderly couple Meir and Tova expect the worst. But Itsik completely bowls them over with his charm and generosity...

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

The True Story of Tamara De Lempicka & The Art of Survival

Dir. Julie Rubio
96 min

If Art Deco had a face, it was surely Tamara De Lempicka, giving us the side-eye at the wheel of a green Bugati in her famous self-portrait. Rubio's invaluable doc teases out the truths behind the myths, shedding light on De Lempicka's still underrated art.

Image: © 2024 TAMARA DE LEMPICKA ESTATE, LLC ADAGP, PARIS ARS, NY

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Desert of Namibia

Dir. Yôko Yamanaka
137 min

A prizewinner at Cannes, Yôko Yamanaka's second film is an acerbic portrait of an arrogant, attractive, diffident, "difficult" 21-year-old woman, Kana (a mesmerizing Yuumi Kawai), who numbly drifts between boyfriends, leaving wreckage in her wake.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Love Streams

Dir. John Cassavetes
140 min

The last movie Gena Rowlands and John Cassavetes made together is an eccentrically beautiful, painful piece about a writer (Cassavetes) broken out of his self-imposed exile by the arrival of a son he doesn't know, and a sister he hasn't seen in years.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema