Le premier jour du reste de ta vie (2008) Reviews

• The script is you and me, boy. No-one knows you better than family.

  Chris_Docker2009-06-29

  Can you go back in your memory and find a key day that was the start of your life as you know it now? Who were the people around you then? What was your favourite song? Was there maybe a special piece of clothing that brings memories flooding back with a smile? What about the food you loved those days? Iconic details. Where are they burned in your brain like a hit song, a movie masterpiece, an unstoppable feeling. When did your life first explode? Somewhere those images are a picture of who you are. Maybe it was getting married. Your first child. Leaving home. Passing your driving test. Getting your Amex Gold. Or falling in love. Moving house. Losing your virginity. Starting university. Finding religion. Getting stoned. Discovering you were someone else all along. Take five people. Take five days. Define the tingles at either end of their spines. Who they are to themselves. To each other. The family in which they are all, somehow, related. The First Day of the Rest of Your Life might not be Magnolia or even American Beauty, but it's damn good fun. This is thumpingly enjoyable entertainment, even with (dare I mention them?) 'subtitles.' In less than two hours, you will feel that you've known Mum and Dad, eldest son Albert, grungy sister Fleur, romantic bro' Raphael all your life. Cos now you know theirs. Blood ties and facts are only one of the ways we relate. Usually the really important bits are a single moment, incident or word. Bits that affect everything else. Bits that define people to you in ways words can't. Intimacies or misunderstandings. Hard decisions taken when you disagree with those you love. Powered by a wonderfully cross-Channel soundtrack, The First Day of the Rest of Your Life is fast and funny. And never flippant. A film for intelligent teenagers who still like to get wasted. For parents struggling to bond. For those in relationships and those struggling to connect. It's not often I feel I can recommend a film to nearly everyone I know (barring subtitles allegies). But I'll stick my neck out and say this is one. It's a symphonic comedy. Of finding yourself alone in the midst of those who love you. Taking pride in yourself even if no-one remembers. Of finally getting through to someone. It could almost be the thinking feelgood film of the year if it wasn't in French (maybe they'll dub it for America??) To get such a complex mix right is masterpiece of modern editing. But the filmmakers have also been astutely conscious of the need to define key experiences in terms audiences can relate to rather than just the way they are experienced by the characters. A love of grunge and praying at Jim Morrison's grave, for instance, does not translate into inflicting Nirvana and the Doors on us. Rather, music is used in classic style to communicate feelings. Or Bowie: Time - He's waiting in the wings . . . His script is you and me, boy There are plenty of senseless things in the First Day of the Rest of Your Life. Believe me – air guitar has never looked so cool. But there are enough really cool, heart-warming moments to make it more than worth your ticket price. It doesn't hit the intellectual self-awareness heights about dysfunctional families that it is capable of – life, death, trust and infidelity, burying your dog, nicotine patches, feng shui, confiscated joints, premature ejaculation and facelifts – none of this matters and yet it does. And as polished all-round entertainment, this film is fairly hard to beat. If you disagree, maybe be you're taking life too seriously and not seriously enough. Sometimes it's hard (as every film critic knows). To just stop analysing long enough to smell the grass. In literary terms, it amounts to Mrs Dalloway buying the flowers herself.

• Beautiful, very French, I loved it

  Jon_Mathias2010-08-13

  I've just finished watching this for the second time as it overwhelmed me emotionally the first time and I had to check if it was just the wine. Well, it wasn't. It's a marvellous film - beautifully crafted, played by a cast of quality actors, great soundtrack. Watching this film reminded me of why we need the French film industry. Today I saw Toy Story 3 (not a bad instalment in the franchise, but nothing special) with my 9-year old daughter and as we came out of the auditorium, I looked around and saw ads for (1) an animated dog flick for kids, (2) a standard "blockbuster" CGI-fest, all shot in blue and (3) a loads-of-explosions bog standard actioner. Why is no-one making films about reality anymore? Are the lives of real people no longer worth considering? Why is Hollywood producing such a deluge of crap these days? La Premier Jour de la Reste de ma Vie tells the story of a family by way of a few individual days over the course of c15 years. Don't expect any contrived pivotal moments of misunderstanding - this film is above that. It shows the conflicts between family members and the frustration and bitterness, yet attempts to demonstrate how these rifts came about. It also shows how people learn from the failures of their parents and how they try not to repeat them. Look up the poem "This be the Lesson" by Philip Larkin for how important this is... It is also about love, the bonds of family, redemption, nostalgia and if the final scene doesn't have tears pissing from your eyes, then you have no heart.

• A feel good movie!

  juliancasa2010-05-23

  Realistic, funny, honest, gritty with fantastic music! What more could you ask for? I wish I could find the soundtrack for this as each song fits each moment perfectly (whichever emotion it is trying to portray). I found myself caught between laughing & (almost) crying throughout the entire film. I am sure each person can relate to something in at least one of the characters... the angsty rebellious teenager, the hopeless romantic, the 'drop out', the couple who has fallen out of love and the doctor who is stuck in a job he doesn't love and a relationship he is not happy in. The acting in this movie is simply fantastic. It is structured around five key moments in a family's life and is such a fun, inspiring movie which plays with all of the different relationships between father & son, mother & daughter and of course, husband & wife. It may sound intense or grim, but in fact I found this film to be (along with some intense moments of course), full of light and fluffy feel-good moments too. You will see each character's different perspective on life and how they grow, which makes interesting watching. From the start to the end, I just loved it. Don't be put off by the subtitles - you don't need to understand French to understand this wonderful movie!

• Well structured and entertaining drama with a superb soundtrack

  theycallmemrglass2009-11-12

  Watched this at a London preview screening This was a cleverly structured drama depicting a lengthy span of a family's life by rolling the events of one day in each phase of their lives. Its so well done that you really care about how their lives pan out. I felt it conveyed a message that life is too short to waste, so make the most of it. Bizarrely though, there's one message that seems rather twisted, you can only really enjoy yourself if you smoke something with a bit of kick in it! OK..I'll go try that... How their lives pan out can be a tad predictable because this has been done before. But this movie rolls with so much panache, drama, nostalgia, a superb soundtrack, and lots of humour. In fact I laughed out loud a few times. The performances are uniformly excellent, especially the actor playing the father. He doesn't say much but you can read so much in his subtle expressions. I think this is a film that has got such a universal appeal which most people can relate to in some way. Its highly entertaining and very well paced.

• already seen, but nice film

  jphdesmarest2008-09-22

  Yes we've already watched this kind of movie... Yes the different "life issues" and/or "family issues" that are exposed are quite classic... But I really enjoyed watching this movie. The actors and actresses are very good, the musical atmosphere is great too, and the situations or dialogs made me laughed quite often. It's a typical french movie, describing the different parts of a human life, from first life experiments to "old age" crises. The love that exists in the family looks real, pure, and is stronger than all the ordeals the different family members will encounter. A real sweet time I had by watching this movie, you can go!