Whatever one’s stances on assisted suicide or mental illness or the Canadian health care system (and the movie is bound to provoke conversations about all of the above), there’s no denying that the film’s attempts to grapple with them feel honest and earned. It’s an irreconcilable position for both sisters, and All My Puny Sorrows has no interest in pretending otherwise. Gadon tempers Elf’s fragility with surprising resolve, and she regards Yoli’s mood swings with the bittersweet remove of someone who doesn’t plan to stick around for many more of them.Īs Yoli puts it, Elf has “enemies that love ” - people working their hardest to keep Elf from what she wants most in the world, because what she wants most in the world is not to be in it anymore. Pill imbues her every line reading as Yoli with a mélange of restless emotions - her affectionate teasing carries undercurrents of desperation and anger, her furious rants a note of pleading.

Venue: Toronto International Film Festival (Special Presentations)Ĭast: Alison Pill, Sarah Gadon, Mare Winningham, Donal Logue, Amybeth McNultyĪuthor Miriam Toews has readily acknowledged that her 2014 novel was based on similar events in her own life, and her intimate understanding of the situation shows in the film’s refusal to smooth over the thorny situation it presents.

All my puny sorrows book summary