One Fine Day (2006)

One of my all time favorites.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

In short, this 90mn movie has 3 30mn parts :Part I shows the sad, difficult, unlucky life of this failed husband and worker. It's not very interesting as nothing really happens in this dreadful, gray city. It was like a very, very depressive « Brazil ».Part II shows indeed the change of life but it's still dull and not very funny as it's exactly Part I seen in negative or rather positive. So, no surprises as you can guess all that happens. It's all the more boring that this reversal seems unexplained.Then, the Part III comes as a surprise and it's only then than the movie is interesting and has Benoit waking up from apathy ! Suddenly, from this moment on, the movie turns into a philosophical journey about the meaning of life and the equilibrium between happiness and despair. I agree with the message that happiness can't be eternal but that a positive mind is useful. From my experience, it's when i start thinking « it's OK now : i'm happy » that problems arise. Then, it's a long tunnel against adversity to eventually reach back the happy level. A crisis is sometimes an hard medication as it was the only way to have new joys, better opportunities ! In conclusion, after an awful first hour, the last 30 minutes save the day but it's too late or too little to conclude i have enjoyed it.

As French comedies go, this must be a masterpiece.If you think DJAL has too much goofy stuff going on, then check out other - much more typical - French comedies and you'll realize that the gags here are reserved and subtle. For far too long French humour has been about big-nosed clowns slipping on banana-peels and bumping into walls while kids point at them and giggle. Admittedly, the main protagonist does have a big nose, but there is none of the obligatory, exaggerated buffoonery that was to be expected.The premise of a 180-degree reversal of fortune in the life of a perennial loser is a good one. However, the story meanders, gets lost in various dead-ends; it's as though the writers had no clue where to go with the idea after the first 10-15 minutes. (There is even an utterly awful music&dance piece.) So absurd does the plot get that the main character even starts despising his new-found luck, hating people who suddenly show respect for him, etc. He even refuses the renewed love and commitment he receives from his until-recently estranged wife (whom he loves)! Comedies can be bizarre, and are often even supposed to be that way. Nevertheless, even the most zany script has to have some basic element of truth/reality in order to be funny. I don't see any logic in someone fighting against his luck, and no amount of empty-headed fortune-cookie philosophizing/rationalizing can make me buy the idea that a former down-on-his luck delta male cannot and will not cope with his new life as a successful, happy alpha male.In spite of that, it's a fairly watchable comedy, with one outstanding scene that made me laugh for minutes: the 5-Euro offer involving the three Spanish businessmen. Pure Python.And just to set a minor error straight: Ivan Lendl did not win the 1984 French Open finale because "he finally started running" (as is claimed here), but because McEnroe simply ran out of steam...

Gosh.. Just saw it this week-end. And this guy is teaching directing in the SO-CALLED best and most efficient cinema school in France (and Europe basically..) !I'm glad i missed the admission.'Happiness is heavy when you're not used to it' C'mon! 80 minutes of non-screenplay, non-directing, non-acting (I LOVE Poelvoorde but he can't do anything about the impoverished style of the the whole shebang)If you want a good laugh, 2 scenes are on the top of the most pathetic sequences of all time :The first one when his wife is meeting him (at the bank, in his office) and realizing that his future ex-husband is finally very attractive and perhaps deserve a new chance.. Slow motions and cheesy music - lousy violons sounds -The second one. The musical sequence.nuf said.Pauvre France.

I saw DU JOUR AU LENDEMAIN about 3 weeks ago in the Angers European Film Festival, it was the first time Le Guay was presenting it to an audience so this was kind of a test for him. According to the great amount of laughter in the room, it seems most of the audience positively responded to this comedy about a French loser who is fed up with his life and his job. I personally thought it was a rather weak comedy. Poolevoorde isn't outstanding. Nevertheless he manages to give his character a good deal of credibility that makes him both moving and sensitive. The real problem that makes this film a little slow and boring isn't the acting nor is it the filming but a deeper problem : the STORY itself. It is inexistent. The plot is interesting - a man awakes one morning and finds out th everything that seemed dull and hateful in his life is now perfect and that makes him go nuts - but Le Guay doesn't make anything out of it and expects the initial situation to be good enough to last 1h30 without running out of steam. The characters aren't deep enough for us to care, the repercussions of such a disruption aren't clear and that gives us the impression, once out of the cinema, to have spent two hours without having seen anything worthwhile. It's a shame given that the movie ends with a rather cheesy and predictable happy end. A good point though for the short musical sequence that comes in as a break with the overall monotony of the movie.