Our film for June is My Golden Days (Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse; 2015), directed by Arnaud Desplechin, one of France’s most prolific and best contemporary filmmakers. The story follows (an autobiographical) character, played by Mathieu Almaric, as he revisits in flashback the events of his youth, good and bad. Almaric has been Desplechin’s alter ego in seven films made together, and has appeared as “Paul Dedalus” in most of them. This is a partnership as durable as that of Jean-Pierre Léaud and François Truffaut.
My Golden Days will be presented in the Grande Salle of the Alliance, at 1011 2nd Street, Suite 206 in Santa Rosa, beginning at 2:45 pm sharp on Wednesday June 17. Directly following the screening, Peter Zingg will host a bilingual discussion (at about 4:45 pm). Please note that the discussion will be in-person only.
This is a free event. Popcorn and refreshments will be served. Please remember to use Santa Rosa street parking only and not to park in The Spa Art parking lot.
Of the film, writing for NPR’s Fresh Air, critic John Powers said:
[B]ecause we’re seeing Paul’s memories not objective truth, we wonder how they’ve been shaped by his ever-changing sense of himself. Central to that self-image is Esther, who’s both a source of an antidote to the film’s nostalgia. Esther doesn’t merely enter Paul’s life, and, by extension, the film. She takes them over not because he’s a sexpot or one of those so-called Manic Pixie Dream Girls you find in American indie films, but because [young actress] Lou Roy-Lecollinet endows her with so much depth, emotion and sheer vitality that her love may be too much for [teenage] Paul [played by Quentin Dolmaire]. Where his charms are a tad shallow and cautious, Esther blazes like a sun toward which everything bends.
Film Details
Original title / Titre originale: Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse (2015)
Running time / Durée: 2h3m
Genres: Drama
Directed by / Réalisé par: Arnaud Desplechin
Casting: Quentin Dolmaire, Lou Roy-Lecollinet, Mathieu Amalric, Dinara Drukarova, Léonard Matton
Stream it online / Regarder sur: Kanopy, Hoopla, Plex Channel, The Roku Channel, Tubi TV, fuboTV, Philo, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Paul Dédalus va quitter le Tadjikistan. Il se souvient… De son enfance à Roubaix… Des crises de folie de sa mère… Du lien qui l’unissait à son frère Ivan, enfant pieux et violent… Il se souvient… De ses seize ans… De son père, veuf inconsolable… De ce voyage en URSS où une mission clandestine l’avait conduit à offrir sa propre identité à un jeune homme russe… Il se souvient de ses dix-neuf ans, de sa sœur Delphine, de son cousin Bob, des soirées d’alors avec Pénélope, Mehdi et Kovalki, l’ami qui devait le trahir… De ses études à Paris, de sa rencontre avec le docteur Behanzin, de sa vocation naissante pour l’anthropologie… Et surtout, Paul se souvient d’Esther. Elle fut le cœur de sa vie. Doucement, « un cœur fanatique ».
Paul is preparing to leave Tajikistan, while thinking back on his adolescent years. His childhood, his mother’s madness, the parties, the trip to the USSR where he lost his virginity, the friend who betrayed him and the love of his life.