Le premier jour du reste de ta vie (2008)

The film recounts the story of a family of five over twelve years, through five days that matter more than the others and change their lives forever. The sequences are interspersed with flashbacks. The family consists of Robert, the father, a taxi driver; Marie-Jeanne, the mother; and their three children: Albert, the eldest, who has left home while studying medicine; Raphaël, who takes part in virtual guitar competitions; and Fleur, in the midst of adolescence. Two events mark this day. Albert, the eldest son, who has completed his first two years of medical school, has taken responsibility for having the family’s old dog put down. He moves into a studio apartment belonging to his grandfather. He meets Prune, a student with whom he begins a romantic relationship. For him, childhood is well and truly over. No one else in the family is happy about his leaving home. That day, Fleur, in the throes of adolescence, turns 16. No one remembered her birthday. She also has her first sexual experience with Sacha, a failed, pretentious artist who is much older than she is. After she closes her bedroom door, a pool of blood comes out from under it. The day begins at her grandfather’s house, where Raphaël, as he does every Saturday, is learning about wine. The film then goes back in a flashback to six years earlier (autumn 1989). Raphaël has taken part in an air-guitar competition. There he met Moïra, a girl who gave guitar lessons. On the way home, he found a note in his pocket on which she had written her phone number. Unfortunately, the note blew away. Six or seven years later, Raphaël still has not given up hope of seeing Moïra again. That day, Albert marries Prune at city hall. But an event casts a shadow over the celebration: the grandfather’s death. Robert falls out with Albert. Fleur, now 20, has stayed out overnight two nights in a row. She comes home suddenly. Her mother, taking her driving test for the fourth time, has questions about getting older, about herself, and about her relationship. After another argument, Fleur leaves home. Her mother gets behind the wheel to catch up with her and, as an inexperienced driver, immediately causes an accident that sends her to the emergency room. The hospital stay nevertheless has a positive consequence: it temporarily brings the family back together. Tired, Robert decides once again to quit smoking. He urgently visits a specialist doctor because of pain in his kidneys. By chance, he runs into his son Albert, with whom he has been estranged since the wedding, and Albert tells him that he and Prune have separated. Raphaël works as a wine expert. Fleur has moved beyond adolescence. The whole family is finally reunited. Robert announces that he has quit smoking. He confides something about himself to Marie-Jeanne. Four months later, on [date missing from source], he dies. His ashes are scattered on the beach where the family spent its childhood holidays.