Better Days Review – Modest, Honest Study Of Woman Trying To Grapple With A Drinking Problem

This French rehab play originates pinch immoderate painfully realistic scenes showing nan grim slog of maintaining a hidden drinking problem. At night, aft her kids spell to bed, mum of 3 Suzanne (Valérie Bonneton) gets a container down from a precocious cupboard. Inside is her stash of vodka, which she cautiously siphons into mineral h2o bottles for nan adjacent day. There is nary pleasance successful her drinking; it makes her foggy astatine activity and detached from her boys. Bonneton, amended known successful France for drama roles, is terrific, pinch her warm, worn performance, not a scrap of sentimentality successful it.

Suzanne hits her stone bottommost aft a car accident; nan tribunal puts her sons into nan attraction of their grandparents and orders her into rehab. First comes denial. “Some vino pinch dinner,” she tells nan expert who asks her astir her drinking astatine nan all-female unit. Other residents see Diane (Michèle Laroque), a celebrated character who haughtily lords it complete nan different women, and twentysomething Alice (Sabrina Ouazani), who describes herself arsenic a statement woman but whose stories, erstwhile she shares them successful group, sound much self-destructive than fun.

Better Days is for nan astir portion a modest, honest-feeling drama, insightful astir shame and stigma, peculiarly for female alcoholics, though it is fto down a spot by immoderate over-the-top supporting acting. It falters a spot successful nan past 30 minutes aliases truthful too, erstwhile Suzanne travels pinch Diane and Alice to nan godforsaken successful Morocco for a dune title successful jeeps. The travel is organised by mechanic Denis (Clovis Cornillac) who has been school nan women car maintenance. The believability blows distant pinch nan sand, arsenic a predictable crippled astir camaraderie and moving together takes over.