Leukemia threatens another life ... on film

Catherine Deneuve plays a woman with leukemia in a new movie

Tonight I heard an interview on NPR with Catherine Deneuve, known as the grande dame of French cinema and considered by many to be one of the most beautiful women in the world. I've followed her career since being transfixed by her performance in 1967's "Belle de Jour."

Now 65 and still beautiful, she plays the "monstrously complex" matriarch of a large, dysfunctional family in the new French movie, "A Christmas Tale." Her character has a rare form of leukemia, which killed her young son and now threatens her own life. It turns out that her black-sheep son is a perfect match for being a bone marrow donor. He says he doesn't love his mother. She says that's fine, because she doesn't love him. Obviously their relationship is complex and they love each other in their own ways.

In the interview, Deneuve discusses the complex relationships in the film and answers a question about how it has been for her to age on film in front of so many people. She replies that it is much easier for women to age gracefully in Europe than in the U.S. It's not a new thought, but still, it's interesting to hear it from her.

As for the film, I don't know how the story plays out, because the NPR story and print interviews don't give it away.

I do know that fatal blood cancers -- most often leukemia -  are "popular" in movies (and novels), including "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants," "Terms of Endearment," "Love Story," "Dying Young," "Rainmaker" and a long list of others. I'm not sure why this is. Because leukemia and lymphoma sound mysterious, or romantic? Or maybe because they are a way of giving a character cancer without having to say the "C" word? (Although in the movie Deneuve's character presents herself by saying, "I'm the one with cancer.")

One google search for leukemia and movies turned up 48 entries!

I wonder if people have any thoughts about this.