Leaving Everything 1.4 - Total Refusal

Leaving Everything - Total Refusal

Director : Marielle Heller

Writer : Ann Morrow

Based on the novel by Anais Barbeau-Lavalette

Cast: Rebecca Hall, Robin Tunney, Tobey Maguire, Adam Brody, Oliver Platt, Colm Feore, Odette Annable, Lucy Hale, Alan Ford, Helen McCrory, Paul Sorvino and James Le Gros

Plot: 1948

Marcel Barbeau (Tobey Maguire) uses all the money he has on him to pay Suzanne’s (Rebecca Hall) bail. The police arrested most of their friends during their public protestation on the ban of non-religious art. It seems like their plan worked, people and the media are talking about them. The Quebec population, usually calm and docile, showed sign of resistance for the first time since the Patriots fought the Englishmen in 1837. This is what Paul-Emile Borduas (Colm Feore) claims, in the public opinion letter he wrote for the newspaper. He’s thrilled to see it was published. The whole gang is here, Marcel, Suzanne, Jean-Paul (Adam Brody), Claude (Oliver Platt), Marcelle (Odette Annable) and Françoise (Lucy). Borduas tells them about his new plan, the essay he’s going to write with them. It will show that the intellectuals don’t agree with the current stance of the government. 

Anna (Robin Tunney) is looking through her grandmother’s stuff once again and she finds an intriguing box, still sealed. She turns it over and she recognizes her mother’s writing. The inscription says : “For you, Suzanne, I’m ready to forgive, Love Marge, Mousse XXX” But her grandmother never opened it, she wasn’t ready to confront her daughter. Anna juggles with the thought of opening the box a little, but the temptation to find out what’s in the box is too strong. She grabs a pair of scissors and cuts through the tape to find a DVD. She realises her grandmother didn’t have a DVD player, so she goes out to buy one.

Four months later, they haven’t received a word from Borduas to meet up to finalise their collective essay, so they just patiently live their life, waiting to try to change the society. Marcel and Suzanne contributed to it too. Marcel drew a couple of sketches and Suzanne wrote texts. Marcel says they’re good, but Suzanne, deep down and doubts herself, she’s not sure if she wants them to be published. What if people don’t like them and ridicule her for it ? Marcel reassures her once again and places a hand on her belly, which is showing the start of a baby bump. That’s right, Suzanne is pregnant and they both don’t have a job to support their future child, which is a concern to Suzanne, but Marcel isn’t worried about it. While Marcel stays in the candle-lit apartment to work on his sketches and paintings, Suzanne heads outside to a cafe.

She meets Claude there, they share a slice of pie and each order a coffee, but Claude prevents her from drinking it, as she’s pregnant, so he has both coffees. Suzanne opens up to him about her problems with Marcel’s attitude and he says he understands. He leans closer to her and he says that she’s always welcomed at his place and he could help with the baby. She answers back, saying he’s too sweet. It prompts him to switch to the other side of the booth, sitting next to her. He tells her he always liked her and he thinks she made a mistake choosing Marcel. They just don’t connect like they do. She says he’s much older than her and Claude says she only thinks that because of the society’s norms and they both know that they don’t adhere to them. He leans closer and closer. He says he wants her so bad and Suzanne finally gives in and kisses him. They leave the cafe without paying and enter Claude’s apartment, where they have sex all day long.

Anna is finally able to watch the DVD and she finds out it’s documentary produced and directed by her mother, called : The Children of Total Refusal. She can’t believe she never heard about it. The film opens with a man identified as her grandfather, Marcel Barbeau (Alan Ford), painting and his daughter, Anna’s mother Marge (Helen McCrory) interviewing him. He doesn’t even bother to listen to her. He just paints and paints while Marge asks him a single question, over and over again, but he still won’t answer. She asks: “Why did you leave?”, but he doesn’t answer. She changes her question and she asks why her mother left and this, this he can answer. He says she didn’t want to have a child, let alone two. Her mother was a special woman, the love of his life, but in the end she proved to be too special for him, for everyone else and for herself too. When he opens up a little, she asks him if he wants to talk about Francis, but he goes back to painting. She insists a lot, but he says he has nothing to say about his children.

Three months later, Suzanne is giving birth to her daughter on the floor of her apartment, lying on dirty drapes Marcel uses to paint. Françoise, Marcelle and Jean-Paul are there to help. During this time, Borduas is going through the finishing touch of his essay, in his dark office. He packs it in his suitcase and he leaves, heading for Jean-Paul’s apartment. Suzanne continues to push and to push, Marcelle claims she sees the head, while Françoise screams at Marcel for not giving them clean sheets so the baby mustn’t touch the floor. Borduas realises Jean-Paul isn’t home. He’s able to find Claude in his apartment and he asks him to follow him while they get the others. When they arrive at Marcel and Suzanne’s apartment, Suzanne is holding her baby. They present her to Borduas and she asks what she’s called, they have no idea, so right now, she’s just their baby, a nameless baby. He says it may not be the right time, so he will give them two days and in two days, they will meet again at Harry’s library to talk about their group project. 

Two days later, Marcel leaves for the library, leaving Suzanne behind with the baby. He grabs her text and he says that they will include it in the project. Suzanne smiles at him, but doesn’t say a word. She’s more and more convinced that she didn’t make the right choice by choosing Marcel. Harry (Paul Sorvino) greets Marcel and shows him the secret room, where everyone is already there. Borduas asks Harry to show them his printer and he says that’s how they’re going to make multiple copies of the essay that he will call: Total Refusal. He presents them his text, where he criticizes the yoke the Catholic church has over society and how it has held them back compared to the other countries. He also criticizes the government for their inaction and lack of initiative. Everyone agrees with what their mentor wrote and they all present what they want to include in the project as companion piece. They assemble it together and they’re all ready to make the first copy until Suzanne comes in and says she doesn’t want her texts to be included in this. She says she has a bad feeling about it and she doesn’t want to be involved in it. Françoise asks her if she really left her baby alone and Suzanne says that she doesn’t care, she was sleeping. They berate her for it, but surprisingly, Marcel doesn’t say anything. They take out her texts and they ask her to go back to her baby and to hope it isn’t dead.

Anna watched the entire documentary and she wants to know if Marcel ever visited her uncle. She highly doubts it, but she just want to be sure, she doesn’t really know why. She is transferred to his doctor (James Le Gros) and she’s starting to get on his nerves a little bit. He says that Francis has been here for about fifty years, he was never visited and they don’t know anything about his previous life, but he must admit that ever since she showed him pictures, he’s getting better. 

Six months later, the manifesto is released at Harry’s library and not many people are there for the big night. Since it’s illegal for them to release it, they can’t do any publicity and nobody can leave the library with a copy. People that are present seem to enjoy it, which is a win for Borduas. Suzanne is pregnant again and she honestly doesn’t know who the father is. Claude asks her, whispering, if there’s any chance he’s the father and she says she doesn’t know. 

A couple of days later, Borduas is out in the streets to buy a newspaper. He flips the pages until he’s in the Culture section, which makes him laugh and he doesn’t consider anything they cover to be culturally relevant. He drops his sandwich on the ground when he notices a critic of his manifesto, where he’s tore to shreds by the journalist. He also learns that he’s been fired from his teaching job. Panicked, he wants to talk to Harry about it, but when he gets there, Harry is handcuffed and police is inside the library. He turns around and runs back to his apartment, where he gathers his things quickly and leaves with a single suitcase. 

Suzanne and Marcel also bought the newspaper that day and they also read the critic. She tells Marcel that she hates to say it, but they saw it coming. Marcel is also targeted in the article for his involvement in the project. He grabs his coat and runs out of the apartment, he has to talk to Borduas. 

Speaking of Borduas, he’s walking fast on the sidewalk and he sees a couple of police cars heading towards his apartment, good thing he already left. He gets to a train station and he buys a single ticket to New York.

Marcel arrives at Borduas’ apartment, but he turns around when he sees the police cars. He runs back to the apartment where he urges Suzanne to pack suitcases and to get the baby, they are leaving. He says he has family in the country and they can go there. She asks him what’s wrong and he claims they don’t have time to answer. Before they leave the apartment, the light everything on fire to leave no trace behind. They are leaving this part of their life behind.