The First Day of the Rest of Your Life starts today
Today the spotlight is on the screenwriting endeavours of young director Rémi Bezançon who releases his second feature, The First Day of the Rest of Your Life [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (distributed by StudioCanal), following his acclaimed 2005 debut Love Is in the Air (400,000 admissions).
The First Day of the Rest of Your Life – which retraces, over a period of 12 years, five decisive days in the life of a family of five – stars Jacques Gamblin, Zabou Breitman, Belgian actress Déborah François, Quebec-born Marc-André Grondin and emerging actor Pio Marmai. The cast also includes Cécile Cassel, Gilles Lellouche and François-Xavier Demaison.
Robert (Gamblin) and Marie-Jeanne (Breitman) have three children: Fleur (François), Raphaël (Grondin) and Albert (Marmai). They include a son who is leaving home and a teenage girl who is about to lose her virginity and is in conflict with her mother, who herself experiences a crisis as she approaches 50. The taxi-driver father is no longer speaking to one of his sons, while the other one lives in a fantasy world of love and "air guitar".
The film focuses on five days, each corresponding to a family member who is followed from morning until evening. The director commented: "It was essential that, whilst changing points of view, we never lose sight of the other characters. This enabled me to play with long narrative ellipses. And each day has its own cinematic logic."
Beyond the five-part structure, Bezançon said he chose the theme of family life because "it is at once the environment that shapes us and from which we break free; the place of legacies and dead ends. But can we choose what we inherit? What role does the family play in our journeys as individuals? And how much freedom do we have? Each of my characters provides an answer to these questions."
The subject matter appealed to Mandarin Cinéma, who produced the filmmaker’s debut feature and this time secured a budget of €5.82m. This included €1.25m in co-production backing and pre-sales from France 2 Cinéma, as well as pre-sales from Canal + and TPS.
The First Day of the Rest of Your Life is one of only two European titles among the 12 new releases hitting screens this Wednesday, along with Bertrand Dormy’s documentary Ballerina (distributed by Floris Films).
(Translated from French)
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