Film

What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases

The First Day of the Rest Of Your Life (2009)

Director: Rémi Bezançon

Time Out rating

Average user rating

1 review

Movie review

From Time Out London

The classic French family drama gets a modern reboot in this unstoppably entertaining saga of life, love, death, pop music and an ongoing battle to cut down on the ciggies. Director Rémi Bezançon’s smart script selects one key day in the past for each member of a typical suburban household, building up a picture of what makes them tick and drives them mad, as both individuals and a unit. We start in 1988 on the day older brother Pio Marmaï leaves the nest, and by the time punkette sis Déborah François, stoic dad Jacques Gamblin (who still thinks he’s a rebel, even though he’s middle aged with three grown-up kids) and company make it to the millennium, we feel we’ve lived through it with them. Flawlessly acted, this film will prompt guffaws and nods of quiet recognition in equal measure, managing that rare trick of being accessible without dumbing down or turning naff. Richard Curtis, watch and weep.

Author: Trevor Johnston

Time Out London Issue 2048: 19-25 November, 2009

Email Tweet Share

User reviews of this film

fb said...

Posted on Nov 27 2009 13:54 Saw this yest @ App Picc Circ. We were expecting a stoic, ponderous, typically-French-arthouse flick and, at first, were slightly disconcerted by its upbeat tone and incidental music. Once we grew accustomed to it, we became mesmerized. The story that's told isn't particularly original, but other than a ten-minute lull in the middle, it is totally compelling, with lots of laughs and tender insights. The acting is fantastic, especially Jacques Gamblin, who conveys more feeling in one seemingly-innocuous facial expression than many actors could manage if they were competing in the World Gurning Championships, and Zabou Breitman as Marie-Jeanne (Deborah Francois, as Fleur, is superb, too). The last ten minutes or so were brilliant, with the heartbreaking finale playing out to the strains of Lou Reed's "Perfect Day". The penultimate scene, with Marie-Jeanne in the car deflating the cushion Fleur had gifted her father, was one of the most simple and moving things I've ever seen on celluloid. My gf and I wept uncontrollably at the sheer beauty of it (many others in the auditorium must've done too, judging by the number of sniffles and dabbed cheeks at lights up). If the film had ended there, it would've been the perfect end to an almost-perfect two hours. Maddeningly, one final dab was added, giving us a happy ending - of sorts - that we most definitely did not need. That gripe apart, this was one of the most unexpectedly rewarding films I've seen in a long time and one I would strongly, STRONGLY urge you to see before it gets taken off!

Report as inappropriate