It’s Alain’s wedding day, and nothing is going to plan. Though his forbearing bride Virginie (Rose-Marie Perreault) tries to keep him grounded, Alain (Neil Elias) is on the constant verge of a panic attack. Adding to his stress are his divorced parents (Hiam Abou Chedid and Georges Khabbaz), and his unreliable best man Édouard (Hassan Mahbouba), who is embroiled in a real estate scheme with a figure from their youth who looms large over Alain’s psyche. Afflicted by insomnia, gastrointestinal flare-ups, and a benzodiazepine addiction, Alain must make peace with the past to get through what ought to be the most Lovely Day of his life.
Filmed on location at some of Montreal’s most iconic landmarks, this splendid adaptation of Lebanese Canadian author Alain Farah’s autofictional novel Mille secrets mille dangers employs a nonlinear flashback structure to reveal and unpack the sources of Alain’s considerable anxieties. With masterful editing by Elric Robichon, Canadian Screen Award–winning director Philippe Falardeau brings us a comedy of errors that brims with personality, humour, and charm.
Neil Elias, Hassan Mahbouba, Rose-Marie Perreault, Georges Khabbaz, Hiam Abou Chedid
Canada
2025
In French and English Arabic with English subtitles
At Granville Island Stage
At Fifth Avenue
Book Tickets
Credits & Director
Producer
Kim McCraw, Luc Déry
Screenwriter
Philippe Falardeau, Alain Farah
Cinematography
André Turpin
Editor
Elric Robichon
Production Design
André-Line Beauparlant
Original Music
Martin Léon
Philippe Falardeau
After studying political science, Philippe Falardeau joined the TV program La Course destination monde in 1993. He made his feature debut with The Left-Hand Side of the Fridge (2000), followed by Congorama (2006), which premiered at Cannes. It’s Not Me, I Swear! (2008) won the Crystal Bear at Berlinale. His Oscar-nominated Monsieur Lazhar (2011) earned multiple awards. Later works include The Good Lie (2013), Chuck (2016), and My Salinger Year (2020). Lovely Day is his ninth feature.
Filmography: Monsieur Lazhar (2011); In the Name of the Son (2012); The Good Lie (2013); My Internship in Canada (2015); Chuck (2016); My Salinger Year (2020)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Two Prosecutors
In the midst of Stalin’s purges, a naïve prosecutor sets out to investigate a prisoner’s innocence, unaware of the labyrinthine bureaucracy awaiting him. A Kafkaesque procedural thriller about the pursuit of justice in the face of corruption.
Image: © SBS Productions
The Blue Trail
77-year-old Tereza makes a break for the Brazilian jungle in this trippy septuagenarian fantasy, the latest from Brazilian director Gabriel Mascaro is a quirky picaresque, lushly photographed and filled with mordant humour.
Calle Málaga
Seventy-nine-year-old María Ángeles lives independently in Tangier's Spanish quarter. When her daughter pressures her into selling her apartment, she refuses to give in, finding in her old age a new resilience and an unexpected romantic connection.
El Suavecito
Victor Parra is Roberto, "el Suavecito", the smoothie. Sprinkling his Spanish with slang and English, and sporting a Zoot suit, he's a gangster-wannabe, an obnoxious macho who isn't quite as tough as he likes to make out...
Krystle dos Santos + Dawn Pemberton: Meet Me at Vie's + Union Street
Enjoy a sneak preview of Krystle dos Santos's upcoming musical celebration of the Hogan's Alley Black community in Strathcona, with songs performed by Krystle and Dawn Pemberton, followed by Jamila Pomeroy's documentary Union Street.
