The First Day of the Rest of Your Life (2008)
"Le premier jour du reste de ta vie" (original title)

Five key days in a family's life.

Director:

Rémi Bezançon

Writer:

Rémi Bezançon

Stars:

Jacques Gamblin, Zabou Breitman, Déborah François

4 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jacques Gamblin	...	Robert Duval
Zabou Breitman	...	Marie-Jeanne Duval
Déborah François	...	Fleur Duval
Marc-André Grondin	...	Raphaël Duval
Pio Marmaï	...	Albert Duval
Roger Dumas	...	Pierre
Cécile Cassel	...	Prune
Stanley Weber	...	Éric
Sarah Cohen-Hadria	...	Clara
Camille De Pazzis	...	Moïra
Aymeric Cormerais	...	Sacha
Jean-Jacques Vanier	...	Mathias Moreau
Philippe Lefebvre	...	Philippe
François-Xavier Demaison	...	Le docteur Marcaurel
Gilles Lellouche	...	Le rasta blanc

Storyline

Five key days in a family's life.

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Plot Keywords:

car accident | pregnancy test | marriage | wine | teenager | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Official Sites:

Studio Canal [fr]

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

23 July 2008 (France)

Also Known As:

The First Day of the Rest of Your Life

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mandarin Films, StudioCanal, France 2 Cinéma

Technical Specs

Runtime:

114 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

References Apocalypse Now (1979)

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Soundtracks

"Summertime"
Performed by Janis Joplin

User Reviews

Beautiful, very French, I loved it

I've just finished watching this for the second time as it overwhelmed me emotionally the first time and I had to check if it was just the wine.

Well, it wasn't.

It's a marvellous film - beautifully crafted, played by a cast of quality actors, great soundtrack.

Watching this film reminded me of why we need the French film industry. Today I saw Toy Story 3 (not a bad instalment in the franchise, but nothing special) with my 9-year old daughter and as we came out of the auditorium, I looked around and saw ads for (1) an animated dog flick for kids, (2) a standard "blockbuster" CGI-fest, all shot in blue and (3) a loads-of-explosions bog standard actioner. Why is no-one making films about reality anymore? Are the lives of real people no longer worth considering? Why is Hollywood producing such a deluge of crap these days?

La Premier Jour de la Reste de ma Vie tells the story of a family by way of a few individual days over the course of c15 years. Don't expect any contrived pivotal moments of misunderstanding - this film is above that. It shows the conflicts between family members and the frustration and bitterness, yet attempts to demonstrate how these rifts came about. It also shows how people learn from the failures of their parents and how they try not to repeat them. Look up the poem "This be the Lesson" by Philip Larkin for how important this is...

It is also about love, the bonds of family, redemption, nostalgia and if the final scene doesn't have tears pissing from your eyes, then you have no heart.