Le premier jour du reste de ta vie

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.

Realistic, funny, honest, gritty with fantastic music! What more could you ask for? I wish I could find the soundtrack for this as each song fits each moment perfectly (whichever emotion it is trying to portray).

I found myself caught between laughing & (almost) crying throughout the entire film. I am sure each person can relate to something in at least one of the characters... the angsty rebellious teenager, the hopeless romantic, the 'drop out', the couple who has fallen out of love and the doctor who is stuck in a job he doesn't love and a relationship he is not happy in.

The acting in this movie is simply fantastic.

It is structured around five key moments in a family's life and is such a fun, inspiring movie which plays with all of the different relationships between father & son, mother & daughter and of course, husband & wife.

It may sound intense or grim, but in fact I found this film to be (along with some intense moments of course), full of light and fluffy feel-good moments too.

You will see each character's different perspective on life and how they grow, which makes interesting watching. From the start to the end, I just loved it.

Don't be put off by the subtitles - you don't need to understand French to understand this wonderful movie!

I must say I've seen a lot of movies but rarely I feel so much drawn into this kind of stories. Believe me, it's a sign of a good movie!

I immediately saw great camera angles and this follows the film throughout. I love the movement of the camera, following the story acted out by good actors in a script that is funny and well written. On top of that, the film has a great musical score.

We go right into what is an average French family. Man and wife and two grown up kids. Time to have a life crisis or four. Mum and dad is no longer having sex, the daughter feels estranged and the son procrastinating. More shouldn't be told, though it's an everyday story from a French middle class family.

The film is funny, still it's able to balance into both sentimentality as swell as sadness. Typically French, but in a good way. The latter years I think the French film industry has turned out a lot of great films, and again French film is something you awaits the best from. This is another example of such a film. Well done!

Yes, and I thought to what I wrote ! When I saw this film, it was the first time that all of the characters made me share their emotions and laughs. Amazing !

A very nice film, treated well.

I particularly love the way of filming. It's also the first time I saw such a devotion to one film. Really interesting. The audio fits perfectly with the film.

The problem, as you surely know it, is "the family". Every character is perfect in his or her role, and no one can doubt about that !

Three words : buy and see !

If you've ever felt nostalgia, you will completely understand this film. This film displays nostalgia, of our good times, of the times we missed, the times we loved, and the times we cherished. It also deals, however, with the times we hated, the times we were embarrassed and the times that were bad. This film combines both nostalgia and regret into one well paced film, that contains great acting, magnificent direction and a swell soundtrack. A french film, alas, some may consider it to be overrated if they have never experienced nostalgia. The ones who have experienced nostalgia, however, will absolutely love this film. Whoever this director is, I'm going to look for some more films that he directed, because this was absolutely stunning. A spectacular experience that will make you feel with the characters, with pain and nostalgia. I will not give anything else away. 10/10.