Philippe Falardeau’s “Lovely Day” is a wedding movie that feels both familiar and refreshingly unconventional. On the surface, it presents the usual trappings of nuptial chaos (a nervous groom, eccentric family members, and a less-than-reliable best man). But what makes the film feel different is the way it uses this well-worn template to explore the complexities of memory, identity, and anxiety, while maintaining humor and warmth.
It should be the happiest day of Alain’s (Neil Elias Abdelwahab) life as he prepares for his wedding to Virginie (Rose-Marie Perreault). His bride-to-be is a calming presence, but Alain is anything but calm. His mind races with doubts, fears, and flashes of unease, exacerbated by the unpredictable antics of his best friend Édouard (Hassan Mahbouba) and the uneasy presence of his long-divorced parents, Yolande (Hiam Abou Chedid) and Elias (Georges Khabbaz).
Falardeau heightens Alain’s turmoil by structuring the film around a looping, fragmented timeline as the wedding day replays, reshuffles, and refracts through the character’s perspective. The film puts the audience is inside his unsettled psyche, and it works quite well.
The result is equal parts comedy and tragedy. Alain’s panic is often very funny, but the deeper the film digs, the more poignant it becomes. His anxieties aren’t just about the ceremony, but about his fractured family history, his Lebanese-Egyptian immigrant background, and his struggles with insomnia and illness. Each revelation recasts earlier scenes in a new, more affecting light.
The film tells a bittersweet story that’s complicated, exhausting, and deeply human. It feels like both a deconstruction as well as a celebration of the typical wedding movie. It acknowledges the genre’s clichés, but uses them as a springboard for something richer, more self-aware, and more resonant.
“Lovely Day” is a charming, funny, and quietly devastating portrait of a man learning to face not just marriage, but himself.
By: Louisa Moore
Screen Zealots 