''My Golden Days'' (), also titled ''My Golden Years'', is a 2015 French

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Arnaud Desplechin Arnaud Desplechin (; born 31 October 1960) is a French film director and screenwriter. In 2016, he won the César Award for Best Director for ''My Golden Days'' (2015). He has also written and directed the films ''The Sentinel (1992 film), The Sen ...

. It stars Quentin Dolmaire, Lou Roy-Lecollinet, and

Mathieu Amalric Mathieu Amalric (; born 25 October 1965) is a French actor and filmmaker. He has won several César Awards and the Lumière Awards. He is best known internationally for his roles in the James Bond film '' Quantum of Solace'', in which he pla ...

. It is a prequel to the 1996 film '' My Sex Life... or How I Got into an Argument''. It was screened as part of the

Directors' Fortnight The Directors' Fortnight (, formerly ) is an independent section held in parallel to the Cannes Film Festival. It was started in 1969 by the French Directors Guild after the events of May 1968 resulted in cancellation of the Cannes festival as a ...

section of the

2015 Cannes Film Festival The 68th Cannes Film Festival took place from 13 to 24 May 2015. Coen brothers, Ethan and Joel Coen were the Co-Presidents of the Jury for the main competition, marking the first time that two people co-chaired the jury. Since the Coen brothers ...

, where it won the SACD Prize.

Plot

Due to a passport problem, an anthropologist Paul is stopped and interrogated at the airport in Paris. He recalls the memories of his youth. Told in three segments: (1: “Childhood”) Paul argues with his mother and goes and stays with an aunt. His mother dies and his angry father attacks him. (2: “Russia”) Paul is questioned about a passport irregularity. He explains that he went on a school trip to Russia. His Jewish friend agreed to act as a courier, handing over money and books. Paul gave up his passport (3: “Esther”) Paul falls in love with his sister’s friend Esther, beautiful, promiscuous, and unhappy. They meet at parties and begin a long-term relationship, though each has other lovers. Paul studies in Paris but returns home when he can. His tutor dies and he works on a research project in Tajikistan. (“Epilogue”) Paul bumps into Jean-Paul and his wife. Paul says Jean-Paul betrayed him while he was away.

Cast

Release

The film had is world premiere in the

section at the

on 15 May 2015. It was released in France on 20 May 2015.

Reception

Critical reception

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website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, 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 ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 88% based on 69 reviews, with an average rating of 7.5/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "''My Golden Years'' is a complex, well-acted coming-of-age drama." On

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

, the film has a weighted average score of 87 out of 100, based on 24 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

Accolades

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:My Golden Days 2015 films 2015 drama films 2010s French-language films French drama films Films directed by Arnaud Desplechin Films with screenplays by Arnaud Desplechin Films set in the 1980s Films whose director won the Best Director Lumières Award Films whose director won the Best Director César Award 2010s French films Le Pacte films French-language drama films