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
The End of the Internet + Installation & Talk
Forget the cloud. "The net" is a far more accurate metaphor for the www. Filmmaker Dylan Reibling meets the hacktavists around the world fighting for the independent flow of information free from censorship and exploitation.
Lucid
Art student Mia is struggling with a make-or-break assignment, a self-portrait. It's only when grandma lets slip that her mom used to hypnotize her as a child to blank out the bad bits that she realizes the severity of the challenge...
Two Pianos
Once promising concert pianist Mathias (François Civil) returns to his native Lyon after a long absence. He's here to pay homage to his mentor, Elena (Charlotte Rampling). But a chance encounter with an old flame sends him spiraling.
The Richest Woman in the World
Isabelle Huppert plays cosmetics CEO Marianne in this teasingly ambivalent satire inspired by the Bettancourt Affair, when L'Oreal heir Francoise Bettancourt scandalized France by frittering away her fortune on a notorious celebrity photographer.
