Film Festival 09 - The First Day of the Rest of Your Life
The First Day of the Rest of Your Life
La premier jour du reste de la vie, France 2008, 114m
Director: Rémi Bezançon
This popular French hit is a buoyant, rewardingly perceptive
dramatic comedy about family dynamics and the urge to escape them.
Robert (the peerless Jacques Gamblin), who's still being talked
down to by his own father, and wife Marie-Jeanne are doing their
best to allow their three children the space to go their own ways.
Covering the years 1988-2000 we zoom in on the events of five
separate days. On each day a different one of the five family
members is striking out on his or her own in some way, but we're
also granted a gratifying picture of what the other four are up to
at the time. Rémi Bezançon directs his own
excellently lively script. He references 90s music and styles with
perfect recall to pinpoint the years, while keeping a sharp eye on
the shifts in mutual appreciation among parents and progeny. The
performances are engagingly individual but gel convincingly into a
rounded and moving memento of family unity. - BG.
In French with English subtitles
