Le Premier jour du reste de ta vie (2008)
Dir: Rémi Bezançon Comedy / Drama
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Overview
Le Premier jour du reste de ta vie is a French film comedy-drama first released in 2008,
directed by Rémi Bezançon.
The film stars Jacques Gamblin, Zabou Breitman, Déborah François, Marc-André Grondin and Pio Marmaï.
It has also been released under the title: The First Day of the Rest of Your Life.
Our overall rating for this film is: very good.
Synopsis
Marie-Jeanne and Robert Duval are a happily married couple who have
three children, Albert, Raphaël and Fleur. Between 1988 and
2000, as the children grow up and leave home, the five members of this
ordinary French family will each live a day that will be
a turning point in his or her life.
Film Review
Director Rémi Bezançon’s second film after his moderately
successful debut feature, Ma vie en
l’air (2005), is this sprawling family drama which proved to be
a hit in 2008. The film was the wild card at the 2009
Césars, garnering nominations in nine categories and winning
three awards, for Best Editing, Most Promising Actor (Marc-André
Grondin) and Most Promising Actress (Déborah
François). The film boasts some exceptional performances
from a likeable ensemble cast and a soundtrack that includes some great
music from Etienne Daho, David Bowie and Divine Comedy. Whilst it does at times feel a little uneven and prone to cliché, Le Premier jour du reste de ta vie is, overall, an absolute delight - one moment hilariously funny, the next moment intensely poignant, but always with something meaningful to say about family relationships. You can just imagine the more polished Hollywood equivalent, dripping in sickly sweet sentimentality and without an ounce of sincerity. Rémi Bezançon’s portrayal of family life is anything but insincere. The characters are truthfully drawn and the situations played for real, offering a taste of family life in all its rich diversity that is warm-hearted yet scrupulously frank. Perhaps the only thing that doesn’t quite work with this film is Bezançon’s attempt to impose an episodic structure on it by dividing it into five segments, which separately recount an apparently crucial event in the life of each of the five main characters. The idea initially appears to have some mileage but breaks down towards the end. The fact the film has to resort to using flashbacks suggests that Bezançon realised the limitations of this narrative straitjacket. Despite this, the film holds together remarkably well, thanks to Bezançon’s intelligent script and some faultless performances. Whilst most films these days portray families in an extremely negative or cariactured way, it is gratifying to come across one which offers a convincing depiction of family life, presenting it as something that should be celebrated and cherished, not ridiculed. © James Travers 2010 Write a review for this film... User Comments
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Credits
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If you like this film you may also like the following: Après l’amour (1992) Conte d’automne (1998) Conte d’hiver (1992) Le Couperet (2005) La Fleur du mal (2003) La Gloire de mon père (1990) L’Homme du train (2002) Le Huitième jour (1996) Ils se marièrent et eurent beaucoup d’enfants (2004) Nos enfants chéris (2003) Le Péril jeune (1994) Les Petits mouchoirs (2010) Quand la mer monte... (2004) Reines d’un jour (2001) |

