Le Dernier Jour

I recently saw this movie on the International Filmfestival in Rotterdam and was wondering if someone knew who did the soundtrack. I have this song humming in my head, but cannot find the title and performing artist(s)... The movie is about a young French boy who's being followed on the train from Paris to his home on the coast by a girl. So he brings this girl home with him and his parents assume they are boy and girlfriend. When the girl is introduced to a friend of the boy she starts to fancy him more and the boy starts to feel lonely. It looks like she is using him. She sleeps with him, but has sex with his mate. When you think you have figured it out, there comes a nice twist in the story! I liked it and of course the music!

The movie starts a little maudlin. Homeward bound for his family holiday, he meets a young woman on a train. He brings her home with him, and the family assume they are a couple and have been. He introduces her to a past friend, with undertones that it was a previous unrequited love interest. As she moves away from him towards a relationship with that friend, loneliness sets in. It brought back feelings of loneliness and emptiness, combined with anger and jealousy I felt at those ages (having been in the same scenario coming of age). To say it's better to have loved and lost has no bearing in this story. To see someone come of age with a story as this one rarely has a good outcome; I survived, many do not. The story takes a real almost unrealized twist toward the end, all I will say is pay attention to names and time-lines. I know my past was not the norm and hopefully most people seeing this movie, would be viewing it as the abstract life of another. No one should live through that pain and emptiness. I cried for an hour after the film was over.

Young writer-director Rodolphe Marconi introduces us to 18 year-old Simon (the extremely handsome and talented Gaspard Ulliel, "A Very Long Engagement"), who brings a girl he just met on a train, Louise (Mélanie Laurent), along with him to visit his parents and sister for a holiday in the country. As the mysterious Mathieu (Thibault Vinçon), Simon's unrequited love, reappears, Louise and Mathieu develop a liaison of their own, and we contemplate Simon's morbid sadness as dark secrets are uncovered.

"The Last Day" is a very personal, slow-paced, sensual and tragic story. It's very French in its aesthetics (which I love) and mood, and Marconi owes great part of his film's power to the amazing talent of Ulliel, who says more with a single look than most of today's young actors with a thousand words. In spite of his first bad move in Hollywood with "Hannibal Rising", I believe Ulliel is destined to become an international star (and if he doesn't, that's also fine, as long as he keeps picking daring roles in great films in his homeland). The soundtrack is also eclectic and memorable, and Marconi even reserves "the improvised, sudden musical scene" that's a trademark of some contemporary French directors, like François Ozon and Christophe Honoré. It could seem out of place and even ridiculous, but works beautifully here. Not a film for everybody, and ultimately depressing; but a memorable, poignant experience nonetheless. 9/10.

A wonderfully atmospheric French film, THE LAST DAY details a Christmas holiday with the family of an art student, and the beautiful young woman he encounters on a train, during which lives unravel terribly. Writer/director Rudolphe Marconi is adept at slowly piecing together the story without undue dialog or exposition. His cinematographer, editor and production designer have all contributed to his vision of a beach-side home and environs with a cold, blue palette that will have you wrapping your sweater more tightly. Gaspard Ulliel ("Strayed," "A Very Long Engagement") is compelling as the lead, and the film offers the wonderful Nicole Garcia ("Alias Betty") another strong role in which to shine. A family mystery of sorts, some of the clues may be dropped too soon (we figured things out well in advance), yet due to the fine acting, atmosphere and characterization, the film still pulled us along and left us jolted, moved and chastened. Secrets this important should never be withheld from those you claim to love.

This is an interesting, but ultimately disappointing film. The plot twists (of which there are several) are telegraphed way ahead, so if one is paying attention they become obvious and hence unsurprising. The characters are well-drawn and the soundtrack is quite nice. This is a very French film. It has all the obligatory scenes, including many of characters brooding where no one speaks. It even features several scenes on a train, as is required of all true French films. Also classically French is that one must guess at motivation, and the film does leave many questions unanswered.

This film does best as a character study of a small ensemble of interesting people. The boy, his parents, and his childhood best friend. His sister has a very small role, serving mostly to provide excuse for exposition and show other sides of the boy's personality.