Zooming in on five key days that have shaped each member of the Duval family’s life, writer and director Rémi Bezancon provides a bittersweet portrait of their dysfunctional relationship – and how one day has affected their emotional trajectories, both individually and in the context of the family ensemble. Beginning in 1988, on the day eldest son Albert leaves home, the film spans 12 years, touching on four other significant dates across the 1990s – and ending momentously in the year 2000. Each day is led by a certain member of the family, presented subjectively to portray the thoughts and feelings of this one character amid the chaos of their family life. Where wide angles accentuate pragmatic doctor Albert’s distance, his grungy adolescent sister Fleur is closely-lensed and enclosed in her world of inner turmoil. Slow-motion and flashbacks personify their idle dreamer brother Raphael, and long lenses create intimacy and closeness around their mother, establishing her as the nerve centre of the household. Calm, soft colours and stillness emanate from the portrait of the father’s day to sensitively denote his passive, mellow nature. Bound together by an era-defining soundtrack and intelligent editing, this is a sharp and moving homage to family life and the memories it creates and harbours.
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