We’ve seen the story before: A middle aged man returns to his homeland for the first time in years only to be engulfed in a wave of nostalgia for his youth and the loves of the past. These stories endure because we all have the yearning for the moments of the past as we age, and it’s possible to find forgotten parts of ourselves through looking back. My Golden Days, the latest film from French director Arnaud Desplechin follows that formula with a few minor breaks from convention. This is a film that starts out with such audacity and intrigue before nestling into the nostalgia, looking back at his youth in the late ‘80s and wondering about the love that was left behind.
The opening third of My Golden Days is strikingly different from what’s to follow. When we first see Paul Dédalus (Mathieu Amalric), he’s preparing to move away from Tajikistan after nearly a decade away from his native France. Upon his arrival, Paul is informed that his passport has a number of issues, and is subjected to interrogation from a customs official, which triggers a series of flashbacks that play out in separate chapters.
The first chapters deals with Paul as a child and the struggles he faced in living with his mother. Paul leaves home and lives with his great-aunt until his mother dies from a suicide. The second chapter explains the origins behind Paul’s passport problems, a trip to Minsk with his school in the ‘80s. As a teen, Paul (played by Quentin Dolmaire) smuggles cash and leaves his passport with some Jews desperate to leave the Soviet regime and emigrate to Israel. Despite all the problems that will arise by this act of adolescent espionage, Paul is assured in giving a new lease on life to a stranger. Attempting to reenter France, the elder Paul is held by customs because of the other person in the world that shares his name and birthday.
These inaugural chapters of My Golden Days are stylized and captivating. Flashbacks are started out with iris shots before expanding to the full widescreen frame. But whether it’s Paul dealing with his unstable mother or the police forces of the Soviet Union, there’s a suspense and intrigue to these situations. But these scenes are misleading as to what the rest of the film will be.
The third and final chapter, which also makes up a vast majority of the movie, deals with Paul’s college days and the burgeoning romance with Esther (Lou Roy-Lecollinet). Like so many a youthful romances, the relationship between Paul and Esther begins as a will they, won’t they until, of course, they consummate their union after a prolonged courting process. Paul goes off to college in Paris, leaving Esther behind for brief reunions on weekends. Their relationship is plagued by the problems that affect most young lovers – jealousy amplified by being a long distance relationship. Paul and Esther’s relationship continues over the years as the Berlin Wall falls and Paul works his way closer to a PhD in anthropology. It’s not long before Paul has started his new career and the relationship with Esther has faded away for good.
I can’t help but register My Golden Days as a disappointment, if only because the first two chapters of its story are so vibrant and interesting before giving way for a rather rote coming of age story. None of which would be much of a problem if Desplechin’s film wasn’t so ploddingly paced during the third chapter. The story beats that require the courting to turn serious and the relationship to end are quite obvious and take a really long time to come to fruition. Maybe had Desplechin and co-writer Julie Peyr found some underexplored angle in the youthful relationship, My Golden Days could’ve lived up to its unrealized potential.
Irina Lubtchansky’s cinematography is simply gorgeous, layered and textured in its compositions. I just wish it was in service of a more captivating story. Sadly, My Golden Days fails to do much with its setting in time aside from its use of the era’s pop music. Except for one fleeting moment when Paul and siblings watch the Berlin Wall crumble and Paul remarks that it represents the end of his childhood, even the political landscape that is briefly teased with its lone scene of espionage goes underutilized.
Youth is that moment in life that is never appreciated in the moment and constantly pursued once it has passed. Desplechin almost finds the sweet spot in exploring the longing for youth, the romances of the past, and the rose-colored haze of nostalgia. There are a number of wonderful pieces in My Golden Days that are just fleeting moments in an underwhelming whole. Often I thought that Arnaud Desplechin was about to bring his elements together into something more, but My Golden Days never fully comes together.