The Suicide Shop (film)
The Suicide Shop (French: Le Magasin des suicides) is a 2012 French animated film written and directed by Patrice Leconte and is based on Jean Teule's novel of the same name.
| The Suicide Shop | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Patrice Leconte |
| Produced by | Gilles Podesta Thomas Langmann André Rouleau |
| Written by | Patrice Leconte |
| Based on | The Suicide Shop by Jean Teulé |
| Music by | Étienne Perruchon |
| Edited by | Rodolphe Ploquin |
| Distributed by | ARP Sélection (France) |
Release date |
|
Running time | 79 minutes |
| Country | France Canada Belgium |
| Language | French |
| Budget | €9.9 million[1] |
| Box office | $2.5 million[2] |
It was released on 16 May 2012 in France.[3] As with the source material, it centers on an undepressed child born into a proprietorial family that runs a shop that sells suicide adjuncts in a dilapidated, near future city.
Plot
In a gloomy French city with a high suicide rate is a shop where you can find everything necessary to efficiently commit suicide in whatever manner you wish. The shop has been run by the Tuvache family which consist of two apathetic children, Vincent and Marilyn, and their parents who keep business running. Things are going great until Lucrèce Tuvache, the mother, gives birth to her third child, Alan. Even as a baby, he can't help but smile and find happiness in everything he sees. Unfortunately for the business, his bubbly personality starts to affect the customers. Mishima, Alan's father, starts to grow tired of Alan's personality and gives him a pack of cigarettes in the hopes that it'll kill him faster. Mishima's mental state slowly deteriorates as Alan starts to make him feel guilty for his customers' deaths. He later winds up attempting suicide and is sent to a therapist who claims he's schizophrenic. He's forced to stay in bed for two weeks while Alan and his classmates begin to stop the customers from committing suicide. Though Marilyn and the mother are warming up to him, Alan is still proving to be problematic to the business as he asks his friend's uncle to build a car with a music centre so loud that it shakes all the supplies in the shop off the shelves and onto the floor where they'll break. Though Vincent shuts off the car as soon as he can, the damage has already been done. Alan gets scolded by his mother. However, a young boy who is there as a customer meets and falls in love with Marilyn. He proposes to her then and there. As Marilyn agrees to marry him, the mother feels gratitude for Alan's prior actions. Everyone, including Vincent, is finally happy. The new fiancé bakes crepes for the family and, attracted by the smell of them, Mishima awakes and comes out of his bedroom. He angrily demands an explanation for the wreckage of their shop to which Alan admits responsibility to. Mishima is furious and chases after him with a sword in hand. On a roof of a skyscraper, Alan fakes suicide by throwing himself off the building. The family despairs until Alan bounces back up from the jump after landing on a sheet his friends were holding, making his father laugh for the very first time. The suicide shop becomes a crèpes shop, that secretly sells cyanide crèpes for those who still long death.
French Voices
- Bernard Alane as Mishima Tuvache, the father
- Isabelle Spade as Lucrèce Tuvache, the mother
- Kacey Mottet Klein as Alan Tuvache, the son
- Isabelle Giam as Marilyn, the daughter
- Laurent Gendron as Vincent, the son
- Pierre-François Martin-Laval as the handsome boy
- Eric Métayer as psychiatrist / the tramp
- Jacques Mathou as Mr Calmel / Mr Dead-For-Two
- Urbain Cancelier as the doctor / Neurasthenia
- Pascal Parmentier as Uncle Dom / the gymnastics instructor
- Edouard Prettet as the melancholia
- Jean-Paul Comart as the guard / the bridges suicidal
- Nathalie Perrot as the little woman n°1
- Annick Alane as the old little woman / the little woman n°2
- Juliette Poissonnier as Ms Dead-For-Two / the woman
- Philippe du Janerand as the fever man/ the spouse
Reception
Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 71%, based on 7 reviews, with an average score of 6.5/10.[4]
Accolades
| Award / Film Festival | Category | Recipients and nominees | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| European Film Awards | Young Audience Award | Nominated |
References
- "Le Magasin des suicides". JP's Box-Office.
- "Le magasin des suicides (The Suicide Shop)". Box Office Mojo.
- "Prochaines SORTIES CINÉMA en France". Animeland.com (in French). 1 February 2012. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
- "Le magasin des suicides (The Suicide Shop)". Rotten Tomatoes.