‘Another Day’ review: Adele Exarchopoulos shines as a woman under the influence in a loose-limbed portrait of an alcoholic

As an actress, not to mention the daughter of French film star Miu Miu, writer-director Jeanne Heré knows something about performance. Her last two features In good hands and all your faces, Both were ensemble pieces featuring star-studded actors doing solid work across the board in films that favored characters and emotions over plot.

This approach results in another unforgettable transformation Another day (Garance), which stars Adèle Exarchopoulos as an alcoholic who’s also a working actress — or at least an actress looking for work when she’s not so attached. Already won the César L All your facesAs well as the Palme d’Or award for her role in Abdellatif Kechiche’s film Blue is the warmest colorShe plays a woman who can’t kick a habit that could send her prematurely to the grave. She doesn’t seem to want to.

But there’s also a limit to Hairy’s latest performance piece, which feels too superficial and loose-limbed to hold our attention, or rely too much on histrionics to do so. More history than drama, it sticks faithfully to the side of the heroine’s lovable chaos, played by Exarchopoulos with her usual no-nonsense cheerfulness, this time with plenty of wine glasses at the hatch. It adds a dose of humor and some subtle observations to the film in search of a more cohesive story, even if it deserves praise for its honesty.

Cassavetes immediately comes to mind at the beginning of the film Another daywhich channels some of the turbulent energy into the director’s two masterworks about alcoholism and acting, A woman under the influence and Opening night. In some ways, Herry is an attempt to combine the two, depicting its heroine’s dual plight as an out-of-control drinker and a talented performer who loves the spotlight.

But it’s hard to become an actress – “Hard, hard, hard!” A teary-eyed Garance confesses to a class of elementary students in a funny scene — especially when you start slurring your lines or showing up late to practice. This happens at increasing intervals as we watch Garance trying to hold on to small roles in arthouse plays or lead roles in a touring children’s theatre, giving it her all but also slipping when she’s too hungry.

Her theater colleagues eventually confront her about the drinking, but Garance doesn’t want to hear it. Any good actor will tell you that it’s not easy to play a drunk person convincingly, but Exarchopoulos doesn’t just do it extremely well here — she plays someone who keeps claiming that drunkenness isn’t a problem, even if deep down she knows it is.

The film focuses on Garance’s mixed emotions as she exorcises her inner demons by being drunk most of the time. She has survived a few failed love affairs, one with a volatile film director who spends his days glued to their couch, and another with a lesbian writer (Sarajene Drelod) who opens her up sexually in a passionate, short-lived affair. She also maintains steady friendships that often involve going out to clubs and drinking excessively to oblivion.

Garance is too much of a party girl to ever settle down, and is so stressed out that she barely comes home every night in one piece—and never with her socks intact. This routine changes, but not completely, when she meets Pauline (Sarah Giraudoux). The office), a helpful stage designer who is her complete opposite but also willing to put up with her antics. Much of the film’s second half traces their blossoming romance through thick and thin, including the coronavirus lockdown and its many hangovers, until Garance is nearly lost to the point of no return.

The alcoholic’s story may be repetitive in nature – another day, another two liters of white wine in this case – but that doesn’t always make it interesting to watch. To heighten the drama, Herry adds a sad subplot involving Garance’s younger sister, Charlotte (Mathilde Rohrich), a breast cancer survivor who was tragically diagnosed with leukemia before the birth of her second child.

It seems like overkill, while the best scenes are in Another day They are ones that feel chaotic and real – a combination that is somewhat of an Exarchopoulos specialty. (See her gorgeous photo of a frenzied flight attendant at Zero F***s given.) Hyeri tries too hard to excite us at times, even if she manages to undercut the drama with some genuine laughs. But her film oscillates uncomfortably between wobbly narrative and subtle stabs at melodrama, and never quite finds its footing.

This does not mean Another day It doesn’t move at times, especially during the closing section where Garance finally cleans up her act with the help of an outspoken addiction specialist (Hélène Alexandridis). At that point, her appearance begins to transform and the stiff look that Exarchopoulos has worn throughout most of the film begins to fade, albeit with more suffering to come. But it’s nice to finally see Garance smiling not because she just had another drink, but because she didn’t.