Dying photographer gives way in 'Time to Leave'

European art cinema meets the made-for-TV weepie in "Time to Leave," a restrained and eventually touching story about coping with terminal illness. Less provocative than some of writer/director François Ozon's better-known work, it has been greeted by a good deal less buzz than, say, "Swimming Pool," but is reasonably satisfying on its own terms.

Strand Releasing 'Time to Leave (Le Temps Qui Reste)' 3 out of 5 stars The verdict: Turns quietly powerful Director: François Ozon Starring: Melvil Poupaud, Jeanne Moreau, Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, Daniel Duval, Marie Riviere Run time: 85 minutes Release date: July 14, 2006 Language: In French with English subtitles. Rating: Not rated, but includes sexual situations, nudity, language and drug use. On the web Official movie site View the trailer Rate 'Time to Leave'   Go see it   Make it a matinee   Wait to rent   Don't bother Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

Observing the final weeks in the life of Parisian fashion photographer Romain, Ozon delves less into his subject's mind than he did with Charlotte Rampling in "Under the Sand"; perhaps out of respect for his character's predicament (he has just been told that, at 31, he has been diagnosed with widespread cancer; she was dealing with her husband's death) he maintains a slight distance, allowing occasional glimpses of Romain's thoughts but generally watching the changes he experiences from the outside.

"I'm not a nice person," Romain admits to a stranger at one point, and it's true. He's self-centered, and his decision not to fight his terminal illness will force him to reconsider the value of the people around him — though this arc isn't presented with the formulaic exaggeration of a Hollywood tearjerker. Romain will eventually make tender gestures to those he has mistreated, but there won't be swooping strings on the soundtrack or tearful hugs to reward him.

Another thing setting this import apart from its stateside cousins is its treatment of some itchy themes in Romain's social life. After learning of his condition, he bluntly breaks up with his boyfriend without explaining what's going on; in a fairly graphic sex scene and some flashbacks to a dungeonlike gay club, Ozon hints briefly at a vein of violence in the sexual world Romain inhabits. Later, when Romain accepts an unusual sexual invitation, we see (in a tender but erotically charged scene reminiscent of one of the most memorable moments of "Under the Sand") the flip side of the coin.

Despite his gestures of outreach, Romain will meet death alone in a crowd, in a beautifully presented scene that respects the moment without aggrandizing the man. Ozon's take on the terminal-illness genre is less dazzling than his earlier films, and in the end that seems perfectly appropriate.