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DVD Les beaux jours
 Run time: 94 min Rating: 6.2 Genres: Drama | Romance Director: Marion Vernoux Writers: Fanny Chesnel, Marion Vernoux Stars: Fanny Ardant, Laurent Lafitte, Patrick Chesnais |
| Storyline The retired dentist Caroline attends a class for computer users. Although she is married, she falls in love with her significantly younger lecturer. It turns out he used to visit her surgery because primarily in order to enjoy her view. Her husband finds out about her affair with this admirer. Written by Anonymous |
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| Plot Keywords: dentist, nude swimming, pottery | |
| Details: Country: France Release Date: 19 June 2013 (France) |
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| Box Office Opening Weekend: $4,919 (USA) (25 April 2014) Gross: $9,059 (USA) (2 May 2014) |
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4 comments
I did not click with this movie or this movie did not click with me. As much as I like French movies, this one disappointed me. The performances were good,Fanny Ardant is beautiful, but…nothing new in here and everything is so predictable. In my opinion, in this film was no connection on any level (physical or emotional) between two main characters . At least I did not notice. Fanny Ardant' character, so self- conscious of her age, so insecure, so needy of assurances or clarifications of what is next, of knowing how she is going to be "dropped", looked rather pathetic and out of place. It also did not show why the young man was attracted to her in the first place. It is usually class and self-assurance that attracts younger men to older women; this movie is silent about it. Love scenes were rather dismal. Overall, the film did not convey what the book it was based on might have done. I did not read the book.
This little French comedy "Bright Days Ahead" stars Fanny Ardant as a recently retired dentist, who, still under the shock of her best friends's death, discovers new life paths when her daughters send her to "Les beaux jours", an institution where a great number of retirees spends their hours sewing, playing table tennis or taking computer lessons. At these lessons, she meets Julien, a teacher and more than 20 years her junior, with whom she soon enters a passionate relationship that turns her dull retirement life upside down. Complications arise as she's been married for decades and Julien isn't a man for one woman either.
It's a very French film, with lots of situation comedy from start to finish and if I'll watch it again at some point, I'll probably discover a lot more subtle nuances I oversaw the first time. Quite a hoot actually. It's very well written and never really drags. Real drama moments are rather rare, but executed properly as well, so taking everything into consideration this is definitely more of a feel-good comedy elevated by the script, Ardant's acting and a sweet ending where we see her taken and led by her husband's hand as opposed to several scenes earlier where her lover takes her by the hand to go places. It also has a couple memorable shots that show Marie Vernoux's talent, such as their first encounter in the car with the windshield separating us and everybody else in the world from their intimacy or the scene where Ardant's characters sits on a bench and we see Lafitte's leave on the right and, at the same time, one of her daughters entering the picture on the left.
In contrast to her character, Fanny Ardant, well into her 60s by now, proves in this film why she is hopefully still far away from retirement. She delivers a quietly convincing performance of a character who simply isn't over the top and wouldn't have justified such an approach. There's nothing absolutely outstanding about this film, the script maybe coming the closest to such a description, but it's an entertaining 100 minutes with some decent French music that will probably go a lot more under the radar than they should.
This fine film is yet another case of Translator Talentless; the original French title is clear and unambiguous, Les Beaux Jours, literally The Good Days; nowhere is there any mention of the future, in fact if anything the title implies Golden Days in the past yet the translators have seen fit to render it Bright Days Ahead. Heigh Ho. Marion Vernoux is one of literally dozens of outstanding French female directors and her Rien a faire is one of the finest French films of recent years. In some ways there are echoes of Rien a faire here, both chronicle love affairs doomed to disaster, in Rien a faire the gulf was one of Class whilst in Les Beaux Jours the gulf is one of age. There are differences of course, and when I was lucky enough to meet Marion Vernoux at the London screening last night I made the point that Valerie Bruni Tedeschi (the star of Rien a faire) exudes vulnerability in heartbreaking quantities, Fanny Ardant (star of Les Beaux Jours) is much stronger emotionally. Patrick Chesnais is excellent as Ardant's husband and an ensemble cast complement the principals to a tee. A fine movie and one I will watch again and buy on DVD.
I'm a longtime fan of Ardant from way back when I first saw her in a French TV "feuilleton" (Les Dames de la Cote). I wish she'd had a better script here. There were too many clichés and stereotypes. For me the story felt as flat as her hair color. Perhaps the bad blonde was meant to age her. She's much better and sexier as a brunette. In my opinion the best performance was by Patrick Chesnais as her husband. He was pitch perfect. There was a lot of potential for a more interesting film and it failed. But then again I haven't read the source material (book) so perhaps there just wasn't enough there to begin with. I'm glad that I saw it, but was disappointed despite the fact that it's always good to see Fanny.