In blending Jean-Pierre Jeunet-esque whimsical adventure with a sentimentalised recollection of past love Desplechin straddles and ultimately crosses the line between charm and irksomeness.

Stylistically there’s bold vision here, including breaking the fourth wall and use of archaic irises which emphatically highlight the unreliable storytelling taking place within the film.

However, there’s disorder to the film’s uncertain identity; a Russian doll structure is inelegantly drawn, and there’s a mess of competing voiceovers. Furthermore, My Golden Days is saddled with an unsympathetic character all too familiar from Mia Hansen Løve’s Eden, and it’s his very male fantasy Desplechin seems to endorse.

Though consistently amusing, the narrative direction and central themes of My Golden Days are too confused for it to serve as anything more than light entertainment.

RATING: 3/5

INFORMATION

CAST: Quentin Dolmaire, Lou Roy-Lecollinet, Mathieu Amalric

DIRECTOR: Arnaud Desplechin

WRITERS: Arnaud Desplechin, Julie Peyr

SYNOPSIS: While preparing to leave Tajikistan for his native France, Paul (Dolmaire) reminisces about his adolescence and some of the major turning points in his life.