The First Day of the Rest of Your Life

I found this French film from the writer/director Ŕemi Beanc̗on intriguing. The first quarter of the film initially engaged the professional me; that part that is a child and adolescent psychologist; with an impressionistic overlay of happily narcissistic and negligent parenting and spends the rest of the film unfolding the effect of this on the three children and even in a somewhat family therapy and Lacanian way showing how this bad habit of self absorption can be traced back three generations. However, I don't want to make the film sound heavy or preachy. It remains light and real and the only heaviness is the dramatically impactful incidents which evolve from these well sketched dynamics. Besides, the musical me was delighted by a perfect scene from the late 70's which had me reflecting that I had not played air guitar with quite such élan and enthusiasm since exactly that time. Also note the plot line that follows one of the male brothers frustrating failure to follow through on a truly kismetic introduced love interest. Superb, light but deep film about what carelessly inattentive parenting can do to all those (or that's the joke isn't it? – uninvolved with the result). Depths left unexplored in The Movie Show. Four stars from me. Beautiful.

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.

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!

I thought that "THE FIRST DAY OF THE REST OF YOUR LIFE" (aka "Le premier jour du reste de ta vie") was a thoroughly enjoyable movie … it is a film that I would contemplate seeing again … (and maybe again!) ….

Well written and superbly directed by Remi Bezancon, "The first day… " is a French film (with subtitles) telling the tale of a close knit family over a period of twelve years … and especially focusing on five individual crucial days in particular over that period that changed the course of the families life for ever …

I just liked everything about this film, the casting was superb, the music great, the way the story moved along was brisk and to the point … and you felt at one with the family … at some points I was very moved … at others I laughed out loud … there wasn't a bad thing to say about this movie ...

A special mention should go the actors playing the main Duval family members – such good believable actors … the Father - Robert (Jacques Gamblin), the Mother Marie-Jeanne (Zabou Breitman), their Daughter Fleur (Deborah Francois), and their two sons Raphael (Marc-Andre Grondin) and Albert (Pio Marmai) – I'm sure that there will be many more good things to come from these actors (and the director) in the future …

This film is a joy … you share the hardships and the highlights and get totally immersed in the family and their circumstances …

"THE FIRST DAY OF THE REST OF YOUR LIFE" is released on 20th November, and is thoroughly recommended

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.