Every day, AlloCiné recommends a film to (re)watch on TV. Tonight: a psychological drama with a very bitter taste that should upset you.
Directed by Nicolas Boukhrief, Trois jours et une vie (2019) is the filmmaker’s third consecutive adaptation after La Confession (from the novel Léon Morin, priest) and A Radiant Sky (from Jiro Taniguchi’s manga).
Adapted from the eponymous novel by Pierre Lemaître, the film is above all a direct order from the author to the director: the first has in fact asked the second by sending him the screenplay he wrote himself based on his novel.
And while Nicolas Boukhrief had never made a film before without having also written it, the project was so fascinating that he put the development of the feature film he was working on on hold to favor the adaptation of this painful work. .
December 1999, in Olloy in the Belgian Ardennes, little Rémi, 6, disappears. Neighbors and relatives questioned, suspected villagers: the investigation is launched but no one has witnessed what happened… well, almost.
Antoine, 12 years old, he knows, but is ashamed and silent, and leaves the small community to tear itself apart. But soon, an unexpected event marks the end of the research and the investigation. Fifteen years later, Antoine, who has become a doctor, returns to the village and finds himself confronted with his dark and secret past.
Get ready for a marathon of emotions and disarming complexity, all in a frighteningly effective work, brilliantly produced and carried by impeccable acting – including Sandrine Bonnaire, Charles Berling and Philippe Torreton who surround the young Pablo Pauly , disturbing at will.
A drama, an investigation, suspects, so far nothing complicated. Then everything is turned upside down and ethical questions are raised: Three days and a life goes beyond the simple thriller and upsets the expectations of its viewer to the point of questioning him about good and evil and its gray nuances.
Here, the stakes are high: we are talking about the forgiveness that is granted to a child in the face of the condemnation of the adult he becomes and who persists in not confessing anything. And we talk about the weight of secrets, those that are terrible and too heavy to bear. The point of view of the protagonist, given at three ages of his life, will not leave indifferent an audience captivated and haunted by intense questions.
Brilliantly staged, the feature film, while offering a fine reflection on mourning, goes from tragic news item to harsh and cruel psychological thriller with a heavy atmosphere, which plays with our nerves without compassion.
Three Days and a Life is one of the best detective films in French cinema and it would be, if it has not already been done, to experience it unsettlingly.
Three Days and a Life, by Nicolas Boukhrief with Sandrine Bonnaire, Pablo Pauly, Jeremy Senez…
From 10 years old
Tonight on ARTE at 8:55 p.m.