''On My Way'' (french: Elle s'en va) is a 2013 French

comedy-drama film Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

directed by

Emmanuelle Bercot Emmanuelle Bercot (born 6 November 1967) is a French actress, film director and screenwriter. Her film '' Clément'' was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. Her 2013 film '' On My Way'' premiered in competi ...

. The film premiered in competition at the

63rd Berlin International Film Festival The 63rd annual Berlin International Film Festival took place in Berlin, Germany between 7 and 17 February 2013. Chinese film director Wong Kar-wai was announced as the President of the Jury and his film '' The Grandmaster'' was the opening fil ...

Plot

Bettie (Deneuve), a harried restaurant owner from

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...

, is an aging former

beauty queen A beauty pageant is a competition that has traditionally focused on judging and ranking the physical attributes of the contestants. Pageants have now evolved to include inner beauty, with criteria covering judging of personality, intelligence, ...

with an estranged adult daughter and grandson and an elderly mother who meddles in her life. She loves a married businessman who always told her he would divorce his wife in order to marry her. He indeed files for a divorce, but Bettie discovers that it is actually because he is also having another affair with another much-younger woman. At about the same time, the bank threatens to close down her restaurant. When she goes out to run some errands, she impulsively decides to leave her former life behind. She takes her car and just keeps on driving. She discovers other parts of France and makes new friends in the process.

Cast

Catherine Deneuve Catherine Fabienne Dorléac (born 22 October 1943), known professionally as Catherine Deneuve (, , ), is a French actress as well as an occasional singer, model, and producer, considered one of the greatest European actresses. She gained recogni ...

as Bettie *

Gérard Garouste Gérard Garouste (born 10 March 1946) is a French contemporary artist having the primary field of work as visual and performative domain. Since 1979, he has lived and worked in Marcilly-sur-Eure in Normandy, where he founded an educational and s ...

as Alan * Camille as Muriel * Mylène Demongeot as Fanfan *

Claude Gensac Claude Gensac (1 March 1927 – 27 December 2016) was a French actress. She appeared in more than 70 films and television productions since 1952. Gensac is the oldest nominee to date in the category César Award for Best Supporting Actress, nomi ...

as Annie * Paul Hamy as Marco *

Hafsia Herzi Hafsia Herzi (born 25 January 1987) is a French actress and film director. She is best known for her debut role in the award-winning Franco-Tunisian feature '' The Secret of the Grain'' for which she won the award for most promising actress at the ...

as Jeanne *

Valérie Lagrange Valérie Lagrange (born 25 February 1942) is a French actress and singer. She starred in the 1960 adventure film ''Morgan, the Pirate''.Hughes p.39 Selected filmography * ''The Green Mare'' (1959) * ''Morgan, the Pirate'' (1960) * ''The Corsic ...

as Miss Mayenne 1969 *Évelyne Leclercq as Miss Champagne 1969

Reception

''On My Way'' received generally positive reviews from critics. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has a rating of 80% based on 41 reviews and an average rating of 6.50/10. The site's consensus reads, "While the script may not always be worthy of her gifts, Catherine Deneuve's performance ultimately offers more than enough reason to watch ''On My Way''.". On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the film has a score of 60 out of 100 based on 17 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Jordan Mintzer titled his

review A review is an evaluation of a publication, product, service, or company or a critical take on current affairs in literature, politics or culture. In addition to a critical evaluation, the review's author may assign the work a rating to indi ...

in ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...

'' "Catherine Deneuve hits the road in this rocky third feature from actress-filmmaker Emmanuelle Bercot" and resumed ''On My Way (Elle s'en va)'' was "a film that's much more

bouillabaisse Bouillabaisse (; oc, bolhabaissa, bullabessa ) is a traditional Provençal fish stew originating in the port city of Marseille. The French and English form ''bouillabaisse'' comes from the Provençal Occitan word ''bolhabaissa'', a compound ...

than

haute cuisine ''Haute cuisine'' (; ) or ''grande cuisine'' is the cuisine of "high-level" establishments, gourmet restaurants, and luxury hotels. ''Haute cuisine'' is characterized by the meticulous preparation and careful presentation of food at a high pric ...

Accolades

References

External links

*
On My Way
at Uni France films {{DEFAULTSORT:On My Way 2013 films 2010s road comedy-drama films 2010s French-language films French road comedy-drama films Films about beauty queens Films directed by Emmanuelle Bercot 2010s French films