Leave One Day

A chef who is about to open her gourmet restaurant has to return to her parents' home because her father's health is failing. This return to her roots, to her parents who run a truck stop restaurant, will disrupt her plans. A return to her roots that will be disrupted by various things. The film works thanks to its multiple dramatic arcs: her relationship with her father, with her mother, with her boyfriend, with her childhood friend (Bastien Bouillon in a role that is a departure from his usual dark performances). All while searching for her signature dish for the opening of her restaurant. And all while dealing with her parents' declining ability to run their restaurant.

This combination works well. Juliette Armanet carries the film from start to finish, with a multitude of issues for her character to deal with and a fairly subtle performance. The actors are good and there are no dull moments for the main character.

The icing on the cake is that the characters sing, so it's a musical: the characters sing well-known songs that serve the story, which are therefore sung dialogues. This is very fluid and works very well, as this mode of expression seems natural. It's an excellent idea, which gives the film a welcome poetic touch. The use of flashbacks and their integration into the current scenes is also elegant, merging seamlessly into the running sequence.