Chalk it as much as Cannes’ distinctive place that you simply’re studying this evaluate.
Which isn’t to say that Amélie Bonnin’s domestically flavored jukebox musical “Go away One Day” is something near a wash — nor does this yr’s Cannes opening movie dishonor the (at finest) checkered legacy of latest predecessors equivalent to Michel Hazanavicius’ “Closing Minimize,” Quentin Dupieux’s “The Second Act,” and the botched Johnny Depp comeback “Jeanne du Barry.” Hell, by the use of pleasure and ambition, this slight-but-winsome dramedy gives a step-up from latest vintages; by the use of worldwide resonance, nevertheless, this newest opener appears unlikely for a world tour.
Taking a sturdy, mainstream premise — a big-city careerist reflecting on her life path throughout a visit again to the holler, in a setup that faintly echoes “Candy Dwelling Alabama,” amongst 100 different rom-coms — and shading it with ethical grays, pure gentle, and a extra unvarnished flip from a widely known star, “Go away One Day” performs uncannily like a Gallic cowl of a Sundance film, gussied up and vaunted onto the worldwide stage. Chalk it as much as Cannes’ distinctive place for the whiplash that ensues.
World cinema’s premier showcase should additionally serve native pursuits, after all — with that first slot now firmly ceded to hometown distributors. For nigh on a era, the competition opener has hit French theaters day-and-date, making worldwide picks tougher to land. Regardless of the notable exception of 2019’s “The Useless Don’t Die,” the slot virtually all the time goes to native fare with simply sufficient star-wattage to gentle the pink carpet.
Curiously, “Go away One Day” additionally bucks that pattern, heralding a director with only some shorts to her title and a forged bereft of recognizable faces. Activate French radio, nevertheless, and also you’ll hear lead actress Juliette Armanet’s voice, because the singer-songwriter stays one of many nation’s most beloved pop icons (in actual fact, odds are you already caught her belting out John Lennon’s “Think about” on a ship, within the rain, down the Seine, eventually yr’s Olympic opening ceremony.) Even so, that dimmer wattage does little to boring a movie that performs like cine-karaoke — and as any mic fiend can attest, the glory in these moments belongs to not the singer, however the tune.
Bonnin units up the sport proper out of the gate, following celeb chef Cécile (Armanet) as she funnels the dual stresses of an surprising optimistic being pregnant take a look at and the information of her father’s (solely anticipated) third coronary heart assault right into a testy back-and-forth along with her enterprise and life accomplice, Sofiane (Tewfik Jallab). The lovers bicker and banter — spurred on in equal elements by the looming opening of their flagship restaurant, not two weeks away — till their acquainted repartee dissolves into the much more recognizable beat and lyrics of Stromae’s 2009 chart-topper “Alors on danse.”
Those that can’t instantly summon that tune’s distinctive synth loop will discover themselves in an analogous bind all through a jukebox musical that always performs on two frequencies. As orchestrated by filmmaker Amélie Bonnin, “Go away One Day” is a dopamine-delivery system constructed on the reflexive thrill of recognition — the type of millennial mixtape that, naturally, builds towards a Céline Dion needle-drop. Solely right here, the tune in query comes from her 1995 collaboration with Gallic rocker Jean-Jacques Goldman, and never, , the opposite work she was doing again then.
“Go away One Day,” in different phrases, performs to a neighborhood beat — whereas providing loads of enjoyable for anybody tuned to the identical wavelength.
Earlier than lengthy, former Prime Chef champ Cécile is again slinging meat-and-potatoes at her mother and father’ roadside truck cease and rekindling previous flames along with her country-boy ex, Raphaël (Bastien Bouillon). The story sticks to equally well-worn terrain, charting the slow-burn flirtation between two mutual ones-that-got-away, simply as Cécile’s private {and professional} entanglements remind her that her life is now elsewhere. Working from a deft script and a pointy eye for element, Bonnin provides this acquainted setup a welcome authenticity, whereas actors Armanet and Bouillon provide the mandatory allure and chemistry to maintain issues vigorous. A high chef can do a lot with meat and potatoes.
To stretch the metaphor additional than strictly essential, Bonnin isn’t simply serving up easter eggs. Even with out recognizing any (or each) tune, audiences from all cultural backgrounds can nonetheless faucet into the throwback attraction of images textured and graded by DP David Cailley to evoke Nineties shopper movie inventory — or to that peculiar feeling, widespread to anybody returning residence after constructing a life elsewhere, of coming unstuck in time. That is an expressly millennial nostalgia play — typically endearingly so, when you ask this specific millennial — and one which, in key respects, pines for an already-globalized period. As in karaoke, you don’t must know the tune to understand the gusto.
Grade: B
“Go away One Day” world premiered because the Opening Night time title on the 2025 Cannes Movie Competition. It’s at the moment looking for U.S. distribution.