The First Day of the Rest Of Your Life

The classic French family drama gets a modern reboot in this unstoppably entertaining saga of life, love, death, pop music and an ongoing battle to cut down on the ciggies. Director Rémi Bezançon’s smart script selects one key day in the past for each member of a typical suburban household, building up a picture of what makes them tick and drives them mad, as both individuals and a unit. We start in 1988 on the day older brother Pio Marmaï leaves the nest, and by the time punkette sis Déborah François, stoic dad Jacques Gamblin (who still thinks he’s a rebel, even though he’s middle aged with three grown-up kids) and company make it to the millennium, we feel we’ve lived through it with them. Flawlessly acted, this film will prompt guffaws and nods of quiet recognition in equal measure, managing that rare trick of being accessible without dumbing down or turning naff. Richard Curtis, watch and weep.