Spoilers are ahead for Good Grief (2024).
Summary
- Good Grief explores the complexities of grief and healing through a comedic lens, showing that grief isn’t always linear or painful.
- Marc’s journey includes discovering hidden secrets about his late husband and confronting unresolved feelings about his mother’s death.
- The film emphasizes the importance of confronting pain and using artistic expression as a means of processing grief and preserving memories.
Dan Levy’s latest feature film has viewers wondering who really made all the paintings in Good Grief. Written and directed by the Schitt’s Creek star, Good Grief centers on Levy’s Marc, a man who loses his husband, Oliver (Luke Evans), in a sudden accident. Despite its heavy subject, Good Grief is a comedy-drama film — mainly because it leans into being a slice-of-life narrative. For Marc, healing isn’t linear, and grief isn’t always painful. Thankfully, his best friends, Sophie (Ruth Negga) and Thomas (Himesh Patel), stick with Marc as he weathers his grief, which only intensifies when Marc learns that Oliver had been seeing someone else.
To make matters even more frustrating, Marc learns that Oliver had a secret flat in Paris. The London-based Marc asks Sophie and Thomas to accompany him on a trip to the City of Light, though he keeps Oliver’s affair a secret, hoping that he can work through his anger at Oliver while having a good time with his friends. While in Paris, Marc meets Theo (Arnaud Valois) and shares that he gave up painting after his mother’s death. Unable to properly mourn her, Marc fears the same will be true in the case of Oliver — and he worries that he’ll never pick up a paintbrush again.
Good Grief Cast & Character Guide – Who Else Stars In Dan Levy’s Netflix Rom-Com
Not only did Dan Levy write and direct Netflix’s Good Grief, but the actor is also starring in the rom-com alongside a few notable names.
Kris Knight Was The Artist Behind Good Grief’s Paintings
Just as the film’s title implies, Good Grief is all about working through difficult moments in order to find a new beginning. When Marc meets Theo, their connection is both spontaneous and instant. Even though Marc’s closest friends accompanied him to Paris, Levy’s character can’t seem to fully open up to them about some of the things that cut the deepest. For starters, he doesn’t tell them about Oliver’s affair — or that the Parisian flat was his late husband’s place. More than that, however, Marc doesn’t talk to Sophie and Thomas about the past. However, Marc does tell Theo about the unresolved feelings he has about his mother’s death.
Good Grief Soundtrack Guide: Every Song & When It Plays
Dan Levy’s Good Grief takes viewers on an emotional journey of love, loss, and grief, with the soundtrack encompassing many moods and feelings.
Marc realized he hadn’t spent time with his mom because of his then-new relationship with Oliver. Unable to process his grief over her death, Marc cut himself off from things that reminded him of her — including painting. More than anything, Marc wants to apply what he learned from his mother’s passing to his grief over Oliver. To fully process his feelings, including the painful ones, Marc forces himself to start painting again. Instead of running away from the pain, Marc embraces the reminders of his lost loves — the subjects of his work. Known for his autobiographical memory, Canadian painter Kris Knight made Marc’s portraits in Good Grief.
The Real Meaning Behind Marc’s Paintings In Good Grief’s Ending Explained
Above all else, Good Grief‘s ending illustrates the essential gains that can come from confronting one’s pain instead of turning away from it. A past version of Marc treated the act of painting as nothing more than a painful reminder of his mother; her very memory, and his distance from her, weighed him down. However, Marc learns throughout the course of the film that painting — his means of keeping the good memories of his loved ones alive — is a boon to him. Ultimately, Good Grief‘s Marc metabolizes his grief, both good and bad, by painting for the first time in years.
