13/04/2016 - Starring Manu Payet and Audrey Lamy, the second feature by the director is an accomplished bittersweet family comedy that is being released in theatres by Mars

Dad in Training by Cyril Gelblat

Having turned heads in 2008 with his feature debut, Les murs porteurs [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Cyril Gelblat has been currying favour with the critics with his second opus, Dad in Training [+see also:
trailer
film profile], which is being distributed today by Mars in 228 French movie theatres. Starring Manu Payet, Audrey Lamy, Aure Atika, Pascal Demolon and Vanessa Guide, the film really stands out from the rest of the run-of-the-mill comedies it might perhaps resemble at first glance, by managing to sensitively and accurately tackle the subjects of break-ups and fatherhood, all with a bittersweet twist. 

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A loose adaptation by the director of the novel Un coup à prendre by Xavier de Moulins, the story revolves around Antoine, a self-centred, unfulfilled dabbler on the cusp of 40 who has never really put much effort into taking care of his daughters, aged five and nine. Treated like a child by his wife, Alice, and having trouble finding his place at home, he abruptly decides to leave her for a one-night stand. But when Alice entrusts him with their daughters for a few days, out of the blue, he finds himself in uncharted territory. And although he was incapable of stepping up to the role of father within the nuclear family, he actually ends up becoming a real "mother hen". After leaving his wife out of a yearning for the freedom he used to have in bygone days, the new Antoine will find himself face to face with a new feeling of nostalgia: the one he feels for a family-centred life…

Produced by Laetitia Galitzine for Chapka Films and by Philippe Rousselet for Vendôme Production, Dad in Training was co-produced by France 2 Cinéma and was pre-purchased by Ciné+. Its international sales are handled by TF1 International.

(Translated from French)