[Cinéma] Better days, a dramatic comedy on female alcoholism

Among the 34 OECD countries, France is the sixth for alcohol consumption. However, according to the Ministry of Health, the share of adults who declare that they do not consume it every week is 61 % today, against 37 % in 2000. Even young people, it seems, drink less alcohol than before. An observation which is largely explained by the evolution of social practices and by a form of eco-public hygienism linked to a certain culture of narcissism, the development of personal development and the promotion of sport.

In France, alcohol consumption is less often daily but significant occasional alcoholizations (API) increases in a significant way in women over 35, while they are decreasing in young men …

Subject little discussed in the cinema – we remember Betty (1992), by Claude Chabrol, with the late Marie Trintignant -, female alcoholism is at the heart of the film Better dayscurrently in theaters.

Resume self -control

Directed by Elsa Bennett and Hippolyte Dard, experienced directors of television fictions, this dramatic comedy follows the route of Suzanne (Valérie Bonneton), a single mother who, since the death of her husband, has sunk in alcohol and has no more clear ideas to raise her three sons alone. Having lost their guard following a car accident, Suzanne then joined a center specializing in the treatment of alcoholism. Alongside Alice, Diane, Chantal and other comrades, concerned to different degrees – if we can say – by the same addiction, she will meet Denis (Clovis Cornillac), a former alcoholic converted into a sports educator, determined to help women regain control of their lives. Understanding, pedagogue, but firm, it intends to direct the group’s energy towards a common project: participation, in nine weeks, for the most deserving of them, in the dune rally, in the Moroccan desert.

Agreed but sympathetic

With Better daysElsa Bennett and Hippolyte Dard are part of a long tradition of “choral films” featuring heroes more or less in federated suffering around a common transcendental project. We obviously think of The Full Montythe best known, but also Big bathhas Rasta Rocket or at most recent A triumph. Relatively codified, with its good feelings, its obligatory passages (failures and victories), its sequence calibrated with laughter and tears, this sub-genre of dramatic comedy in English finds no major renewal here. The writing even combines the clichés (the general shouting in the desert!).

Faiblarde, the last part of the film, relating to the rally, is not sufficiently worked and spoils the whole a little. Nevertheless, the directors have the merit of approaching an important subject and of offering beautiful roles to Valérie Bonneton, Clovis Cornillac, Sabrina Ouazani and Michèle Laroque, who give us completely convincing tragicomic performances.

3 out of 5 stars