It’s not unusual to find non-professional actors breaking out at the Cannes Film Festival. But those who do, don’t often come with a medical degree.
In De Son Vivant (Peaceful), the new film from French director Emmanuelle Bercot, a man refuses to accept his terminal illness. The cancer specialist who handholds him through this torturous process is played by real-life oncologist Dr Gabriel Sara, a Lebanese-born medic who has lived in New York for the past 40 years.
Acting opposite established French stars Benoit Magimel, who plays Benjamin, “a failed actor” with incurable stage four pancreatic cancer, and Catherine Deneuve as his controlling mother Crystal, the good doctor more than holds his own, playing his role with humanity and honesty.
At the premiere on Saturday at the festival’s plush Lumiere theatre, the film's cast and crew received a standing ovation. “First of all, I didn’t feel it was for me,” Sara explains, modestly. “I felt all along that we were a family on this movie.”
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