After the Life: Trilogy 3 (2002)

94% of critics liked it
(33 reviews)
67% of users liked it
(78 ratings)

After Life is the third film in Lucas Belvaux's ambitious Trilogy, following On the Run, a thriller, and An Amazing Couple, a romantic comedy. After Life features the same characters as the other two films and happens over the same time period, but it's a melodrama, and the focus is on Pascal… More After Life is the third film in Lucas Belvaux's ambitious Trilogy, following On the Run, a thriller, and An Amazing Couple, a romantic comedy. After Life features the same characters as the other two films and happens over the same time period, but it's a melodrama, and the focus is on Pascal (Gilbert Melki), a cop, and his wife, Agnes (Dominique Blanc), a teacher, who is also a morphine addict. Agnes depends on Pascal to supply her with morphine, and he in turn has an arrangement to procure the drug from a nefarious local businessman, Jaquillat (Patrick Descamps). When a violent radical leftist, Bruno (Belvaux), escapes from prison and kills an associate of Jaquillat's, Jaquillat threatens to withhold Pascal's morphine supply until Bruno is dead. As his wife's mental and physical health deteriorates, Pascal feels compelled to subvert his moral qualms about turning the criminal over. His investigation leads him to detain Jeanne (Catherine Frot), a co-worker of Agnes' with past ties to Bruno. Cécile (Ornella Muti), another of Agnes' co-workers, begins to suspect that her husband, Alain (François Morel), is having an affair, and asks Pascal to look into it. Pascal finds his interest in the case is more than professional when he begins to develop feelings for Cécile. Meanwhile, Agnes, feeling neglected and desperate, goes out into the street to try to find her fix. She ends up running into Bruno, and the two forge an unlikely alliance. Belvaux's Trilogy was shown at the 2003 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: R, 2 hr. 4 min.
Directed By: Lucas Belvaux
Written By: Lucas Belvaux
Genres: Art House & International, Drama

In Theaters: Oct 6, 2002 Wide
On DVD: Jul 19, 2005
Studio: Magnolia Pictures

Critic Reviews

Desson Thomson, Washington Post
Each movie casts light on the others. And after watching all three, a profound blending of the stories percolates in your head.
Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
If On the Run is the most riveting and shocking of the three, and An Amazing Couple the funniest and most engaging, After the Life is the most touching and dramatic.
Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle
[Blanc's] performance is as chilling as Lee Remick's in Days of Wine and Roses.
Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post
The Trilogy's amazing partnership is Agnès and Pascal's. With After the Life's tango of enabler and addict, Belvaux finally delivers emotional resonance.
Ty Burr, Boston Globe
If you have committed to the entire project ... this chapter leaves you not only with a sense of completion but of an ascension to a hard-won grace.
Manohla Dargis, Los Angeles Times
Watching junkies screaming for their fix tends to get very tired very quickly, but Blanc holds the screen with furtive intensity.
Rob Thomas, Capital Times (Madison, WI)
If I had to recommend just one film out of the three, it would be this one.
Tim Cogshell, Boxoffice Magazine
Works well on its own, but it makes the other two films better still by filling in their gaps and thus making the overall series a good deal more interesting.
Jeff Shannon, Seattle Times
While it functions independently as a sad, ultimately moving portrait of a deeply codependent couple, the film also emerges as the most richly resonant of The Trilogy.
, E! Online
It's enjoyably messy, melodramatic entertainment.
Annlee Ellingson, FilmStew.com
The most intimate and moving of the three films. What's most compelling about this installment is its frank exploration of a couple mired in co-dependency.
Kent Turner, Film-Forward.com
The Trilogy's narrative structure may be considered a gimmick, but it's one that is thoroughly compelling... as all the pieces of the puzzle fall into place.
Robin Clifford, Reeling Reviews
"After Life," takes a more somber tone than the first two films [in "The Trilogy"]
Laura Clifford, Reeling Reviews
It's an engrossing experience, although at least one story strand...doesn't pass muster when viewed a second time.