Trois jours et une vie

All the elements are there, the plot, the acting, the set, the atmosphere... But the pace is uneven, it lags at times and then suddenly, many years pass or important things happen in a second and, mostly, out of the view.

The time passes and I keep waiting for the mistery to unravel or the conflict to arise, but they never do, and since all the cards are laid on the table from the get go, there's no big reveal or twist at the end to reward the audience's patience .

It has some silly, but distracting, errors, such as people looking exactly the same way they looked fifteen years ago, or the supermarket cashier and the police officer that look the same as they did a decade ago, and are expecting their first child, like it had been 3 years since the events, not 15!

Furthermore, almost everyone made some quite questionable decisions, that are never fully explained.

Love French cinema, especially the noir thrillers, so I thought this movie would be right up my alley, but I was dissapointed.

Another story that has been scripted many many times, but which fortunately stands out favorably for its pace and the intricacy of the problems that the main protagonist will face. Simple, but effective implementation. A little extra effort on the makeup side for the adult characters would have been wise when we jump back in time in the last part of the film. The physical resemblance and performance of the actors who play the main character (Jérémie Senez - the young Antoine Courtin and Pablo Pauli - the adult Antoine Courtin) is downright striking and adds to the credibility of the film for the good of it!

An engaging movie about the ironies of life, especially the life of one Antoine who lives in a northern French village. Antoine is the character whose life of predicaments holds this story together, and he is well-played by two actors, Jeremy Senez as the younger version and Pablo Pauly as the grown-up one. We feel for Antoine and want to be on his side, and the actors manage to make him sympathetic. The scenes that took place during the historic winter storm of 1999 were brilliantly shot.

If you are looking for something different that the regular Netflix stuff, you will be drawn into a incredible story. I did not read the book so I did not have any expectation. The acting is spot on, beautiful shooting of Belgium countryside and deep storyline that turns unexpected. I love it !

The cinematography is gorgeous and the movie has a great choice of music, scenes are filmed in dynamic shots that are very much character focused.

The story is filled with tention, and some great pieces of dialogue, pacing sometimes feels a bit odd as the movie skips large periods of time however the scenes we did see all serve a purpose.