LEAVE ONE DAY

(director/writer: Amelie Bonnin; screenwriter: Dimitri Lucas; cinematographer: David Cailley; editor: Héloïse Pelloquet; music: Keren Ann; cast: Juliette Armanet (Cécile Beguin), Bastien Boiillon (Raphael Tenreiro), François Rollin (Gerard Beguin), Tewfik Jallab (Sofiane Garbi), Dominique Blanc (Fanfan Beguin, Cecile’s mom), Mhamed Arezki (Heddy), Pierre-Antoine Billon (Richard), Amandine Dewasmes (Nathalie); Runtime: 98; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Bastien Daret, Arthur Goisset, Sylvie Pialat, Benoît Quainon, Robin Robles; Topshot Films; 2025-France-in French with English subtitles)

“An under-cooked foodie musical.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

French filmmaker Amelie Bonnin, in this adaptation of her Cesar award-winning short film, makes her first solo feature an under-cooked foodie musical. The songs are forgettable, the script is slight, it’s overly sentimental, and it’s overlong even at only 98 minutes. Yet on the bright side, it has some charming nostalgia.


Cécile (Juliette Armanet, French singer, in her first film role) is set to open in a few weeks an upscale celebrity chef restaurant in Paris after winning a top-rated TV cooking show with her romantic and business partner Sofiane (Tewfik Jallab). When her lovable, workaholic, old dad, Gérard (François Rollin), has a heart attack running the family’s truck-stop cafe out in the sticks with Cécile’s mum Fanfan (Dominique Blanc), she leaves her restaurant for awhile to care for him. While back at her hometown, the pregnant Cécile bumps into her ex-boyfriend, the family man Raph (Bastien Bouillon), whose heart she broke when she dumped him.

In TV interviews, Cécile snobbishly exalts her haute cuisine brand of cooking while down-playing the truck-stop food she was raised on.

One of Cécile’s songs was titled “Leave One Day.”

It played at the Cannes Film Festival.



REVIEWED ON 5/22/2025  GRADE: C
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