An unremarkable office worker has to cope with the indifference or even the hostility of his colleagues. His private life is a disaster zone too, since his wife, who has grown tired of his timidity and anxiety, wants a divorce. Even inanimate objects such as coffee machines seem to have it in for him. Suddenly, however, things change for the better. Fate begins to shower the man with one blessing after another...
"Du jour au lendemain" tells the story of an unlucky man who begins to receive one boon or one success after another. He should be happy - well, he IS happy - but after a while he begins to wonder about the how, why and when of this wondrous reversal. He also gets anxious and restless : perhaps because he thinks he is not worthy of such bliss, perhaps because he fears that fickle fate will snatch everything away again, perhaps because he finds it stressful to grow and explore new opportunities. So "Du jour au lendemain" tackles quite an interesting problem : what if happiness were to prove as challenging and stressful as unhappiness ?
Sadly the execution of this fine premise leaves much to be desired. The screenplay wanders and meanders ; eventually it collapses before reaching the finish, like an exhausted runner. The ending feels particularly lazy and uninspired. As a result the movie doesn't have much to say.
Moreover, some of the storylines or details don't make much sense. For instance, in the beginning our protagonist feels disappointed because the pizza he orders as a matter of routine doesn't live up to his expectations : the pizza tends to contain eggs, which he doesn't like. The man has a regular income, owns a telephone and lives in a modern city. So why doesn't he just order pizza from another restaurant ?
I'm still giving the movie some stars because it boasts a few good jokes and a few interesting characters, such as a security guard so obsessed with the Napoleonic era that he is fully capable of insulting random clients. ("How do you dare to show your face in public ? Don't you realise that your ancestor, general X, let the Emperor down when he needed him most ?") Moreover, Benoît Poelvoorde gives a good lead performance.
"Du jour au lendemain" tells the story of an unlucky man who begins to receive one boon or one success after another. He should be happy - well, he IS happy - but after a while he begins to wonder about the how, why and when of this wondrous reversal. He also gets anxious and restless : perhaps because he thinks he is not worthy of such bliss, perhaps because he fears that fickle fate will snatch everything away again, perhaps because he finds it stressful to grow and explore new opportunities. So "Du jour au lendemain" tackles quite an interesting problem : what if happiness were to prove as challenging and stressful as unhappiness ?
Sadly the execution of this fine premise leaves much to be desired. The screenplay wanders and meanders ; eventually it collapses before reaching the finish, like an exhausted runner. The ending feels particularly lazy and uninspired. As a result the movie doesn't have much to say.
Moreover, some of the storylines or details don't make much sense. For instance, in the beginning our protagonist feels disappointed because the pizza he orders as a matter of routine doesn't live up to his expectations : the pizza tends to contain eggs, which he doesn't like. The man has a regular income, owns a telephone and lives in a modern city. So why doesn't he just order pizza from another restaurant ?
I'm still giving the movie some stars because it boasts a few good jokes and a few interesting characters, such as a security guard so obsessed with the Napoleonic era that he is fully capable of insulting random clients. ("How do you dare to show your face in public ? Don't you realise that your ancestor, general X, let the Emperor down when he needed him most ?") Moreover, Benoît Poelvoorde gives a good lead performance.