ALL OF A SUDDEN | SOUDAIN

FRANCE, JAPAN, GERMANY, BELGIUM | 2026 | COLOR | DCP | 196’ | FRENCH, JAPANESE

In the shadow of a grim diagnosis, two women embark on a profound philosophical dialogue about care, time and life itself. With the action split between a care home for the elderly in Paris and a journey to Japan, Hamaguchi drives the dialectical form of “Drive My Car” to its limits, exploring how human connection and empathy can serve as a kind of resistance against alienation, speed and the pressure of contemporary world.

With his characteristic, perceptive eye, the Japanese auteur transforms the confessions and the subtle gestures of the two women into an evocative, deeply humane character-driven drama. This is a unique political work on dignity and solidarity that articulates a genuinely philosophical perspective on why it is worth fighting to live. The film won the ‘split’ Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival for its two magnificent leading ladies, Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto, and it is Japan’s official entry for the forthcoming Oscar for Best International Feature Film. Thodoris Karamanolis

DIRECTOR: Ryusuke Hamaguchi
SCREENWRITERS: Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Léa Le Dimna
DoP: Alan Guichaoua
MUSIC: Samuel Andreyev
EDITOR: Azusa Yamazaki
PRINCIPAL CAST: Virginie Efira, Tao Okamoto, Kyōzō Nagatsuka

RYUSUKE HAMAGUCHI 

Japanese director and screenwriter, born in 1978. He studied at the University of Tokyo and at the Tokyo University of the Arts. He began out as a fan of Tarantino and Wong Kar-wai, until, in his own words, he was introduced to the cinema of John Cassavetes. A regular award-winning presence at international film festivals.

FILMOGRAPHY
2026 All of a Sudden
2023 Evil Does Not Exist
2021 Drive My Car
2021 Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
2018 Asako I & II
2015 Happy Hour
2012 Intimacies
2010 The Depths
2008 Passion
2007 Solaris