MY DAYS OF GLORY/ MES JOURS DE GLOIRE
France, 2019, 98 minutes, Colour.
Vincent Lacoste, Emmanuelle Devos, Christophe Lambert, Noee Abita.
Corrected by Antoine de Bary.
To appreciate this story of a young man going down, one would need a very French sensibility.
Vincent Lacoste portrays Adrian, age 27, who had worked in cinema, but is suffering from some kind of crisis, partly with friends who support him, but irresponsible in his financial dealings, losing his apartment, moving back with his parents. He is characterised as self-centred, rather narcissistic. And, as the audience watches him, it is very difficult to have any kind of sympathy for him, even empathy with him as he continues his wilful behaviour.
He pulls a stunt with the fire brigade early in the film, allegedly getting into a building to rescue his girlfriend but are set up to get notice – and to be fined. He goes to a casting call for a film about the Jung Charles de Gaulle, auditioning, seeming to be successful, encountering the actor who portrays to goals brother and a scene challenging his sexuality and issues of nudity, then finding that without notice, this actor has taken over the role of the goal. He does meet an attractive young woman at the hearing about his fine, she also having a fine, and the various encounters. One of the issues which he takes to a therapist is that he is impotent, discussions about this happening at his age of 27 and his various attempts at sexual arousal.
Ultimately, he goes into therapy, not very cooperative with the group or with the Dir who wants him to leave.
He does not get much support from his father, played by veteran Christophe Lambert. He gets much more support from his mother, a therapist, played by Emmanuelle Devoe. At the end, in a frank talk with her son about herself, her past, her marriage, depression, giving up studies, therapy and beginning psychology studies for some kind of self-rehabilitation, she does offer some hope for her son. The final sequence is too easy solution, Adrian having a sexual encounter with one of the other members of the therapy group – and the question of whether he really has a future.
