Le magasin des suicides (The Suicide Shop) (2012)
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71% of critics liked it
(7 reviews) -
90% want to see it
(76 ratings)
Patrice Leconte adapts Jean Teulé's darkly comic 2007 novel into a animated musical concerning a young child with a sunny disposition born into a family that thrives on the misery of others. Since 1854, the Tuvache family has owned a small shop catering to the suicidal impulses of its depressed… More Patrice Leconte adapts Jean Teulé's darkly comic 2007 novel into a animated musical concerning a young child with a sunny disposition born into a family that thrives on the misery of others. Since 1854, the Tuvache family has owned a small shop catering to the suicidal impulses of its depressed clientele. A walk down the shadowy isles of this morbid boutique reveals a dazzling variety of instruments with which weary shoppers can end their suffering. When pessimistic proprietor Mishima and his depressive wife give birth to a baby boy named Alan, they're overjoyed at the thought that he will be just as miserable as his somber siblings. But Alan isn't like the others; bright-eyed and energetic, he's a ghastly ray of sunshine in their cherished world of grey skies. Not even the carcinogenic cigarettes enthusiastically bestowed to Alan by his concerned father are enough to snap the cheerful child out of his optimistic slump. Realizing that the very future of their enduring family business may be threatened by the beaming boy, the Tuvache's soon resort to desperate measures in their efforts to keep the misery alive. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Directed By
- Patrice Leconte
- Written By
- Patrice Leconte, Jean Teule
- Genres
- Animation, Musical & Performing Arts, Comedy
Critic Reviews
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Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail
Too grisly for kids, or at least their ticket-buying parents. At the same time, the bouncy musical numbers with their contorted rhymes are unlikely to be embraced by any self-respecting Goth teen.
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Rob Salem, Toronto Star
The animation is great, in its stark, mostly monochromatic way, but the music merely serviceable.
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Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
The ever-diverse Patrice Leconte has made an original, darkly humorous animation about a store assisting suicidals.
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Kent Turner, Film-Forward.com
After the success of the irreverent The Book of Mormon, this would be a natural for the stage-Broadway would be so lucky.
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Amber Wilkinson, Eye for Film
This is a film of two halves, with the half involving sweetness and light muddled and limp in comparison to its tougher, more sinister flipside, while the ending is almost unforgivably trite.
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Cast
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Bernard Alane
as Mishima Tuvache
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Isabelle Spade
as Lucrèce Tuvache
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Kacey Mottet Klein
as Alan Tuvache
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Isabelle Giami
as Marilyn Tuvache
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Laurent Gendron
as Vincent Tuvache
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Pierre-François Martin-Laval
as Pretty Boy
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Eric Metayer
as Psychologist, Transient
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Jacque Mathou
as Monsieur Calmel, Monsieur Dead for Two
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Urbain Cancelier
as Gynecologist, Neurasthenia Specialist
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Pascal Parmentier
as Gym Teacher, Uncle Dom
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Edouard Prétet
as Desperate Man
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Jean-Paul Comart
as Rescuer, Suicide on Bridge
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Annick Alane
as Little Old Woman, Little Woman
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Juliette Poissonnier
as Madame Dead for Two, The Wife
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Philippe Du Janerand
as Febrile Typle, Husband
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Isabelle Petit-Jacques
as Bourgeois
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Nathalie Perrot
as Little Woman