THE STORY – Garance is a young actress, but not a star. She manages everything as best she can, valiant, cheerful, a soldier, and she finds in alcohol an unconditional fuel, a source of comfort. Garance changes her life and begins an eight-year journey of moves, work, encounters, parties and anxieties, joys and hardships… An intimate, friendly, and sexual revolution. But she consumes, more and more. Until the very possibility of death…
THE CAST – Adèle Exarchopoulos, Sara Giraudeau, Rudgy Pajany, Raya Martigny, Mathilde Roehrich & Sara-Jeanne Drillaud
THE TEAM – Jeanne Herry (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 105 Minutes
If life was a video game, some people give them the impression that they’re stuck in hard mode. “Another Day” follows just such an individual, keeping the camera locked onto the title character and observing her without judgment as she quite literally stumbles her way through her existence. Refreshingly, writer-director Jeanne Herry deliberately avoids obvious emotional beats, as she tells a story that’s decidedly not a new one, for film or any other medium. Adèle Exarchopoulos aides her in this effort with a fully lived-in performance, embodying her character so completely but in a way that mostly sidesteps the typical histrionics and over-the-top choices that actors typically lean into with such a role. It’s not an easy watch, intentionally so, but Herry delivers a shockingly buoyant, propulsive film about the perils and pitfalls of addiction.
Garance (Exarchopoulos) is a Parisian stage performer in her mid-30s, working sporadically in smaller roles and children’s theatre as she takes on any part that her theatrical troupe gives her. She’s a working actress, decidedly not rich or famous, as evidenced by the fact that she still has to live with roommates or at the mercy of her friends’ accommodations. And although she displays a clear talent, acting takes a backseat to her great love: drinking. As she breezily, laughingly explains to a fellow actor early in the film: “remember, I’m an alcoholic.” This isn’t a story about someone in denial about their addiction, Garance is fully aware of her problem and has no intention of stopping.
Herry presents Garance’s alcoholism to the audience in a way that mimics how those in her life discover it. As the film starts, Garance is seen merely having a glass of wine here and there, but never to the point that she’s seen slurring her words or falling down. Her only drunken faux pas is the occasional foot-in-mouth comment that she quickly moves past by the time the next day rolls around. Then a bit later into the story, we start to see her showing physical signs of drunken behavior, but only in the privacy of her own home, where she’s free to stumble around and, say, fall asleep in the bathtub with no witness to her intoxicated actions but her roommate. But as the audience gets to know Garance, the signs become more apparent and worrying. This is exactly how people close to alcoholics notice their loved one’s drinking problem: slowly at first, but eventually, patterns start to emerge.
Exarchopoulos helps Herry in assembling a truthful portrait of alcoholism through her magnetically honest performance. It’s totally believable that her Garance has been getting drunk every single day of their entire adult life, not because they’re in an unmissable state of constant inebriation but because it all seems so natural to her. Garance knows how to operate with nearly-full functionality while drunk. She may even know how to exist better drunk than sober. Exarchopoulos emphasizes Garance’s disarming charisma, with her cynicism and direct way of addressing those in her life amazingly coming off as charming because of the actress’ compelling nature. She brushes off any concern with a laugh and a self-deprecating comment. And given that her character is an actress herself, it only makes sense that Garance would be good at playing the role of a person who seems to have herself together, when the truth is the complete opposite. It’s a performance within a performance, and the talented actress transforms so fully into Garance that it’s hard to believe she’s ever played another part before.
But that doesn’t mean her performance is all chuckles and distractions. As might be expected, as the plot unspools, Garance’s situation gets more dire, and Exarchopoulos is tasked with playing some big emotions and dramatic circumstances. But these outbursts always come from a place of truth; as played by Exarchopoulos, it’s clear that Garance never wants to be going through these uncomfortable outbursts, she just truly can’t help it. It’s far from indulgent, showy work, which is fitting given Herry’s true-to-life style.
Herry moves the story along at an astonishing clip, with the film never sagging as it blasts through Garance’s life (Pascal Sangla energetic score also helps keep up the momentum). Time passes by unceremoniously in large sweeps, which has a dizzying effect that mirrors how Garance easily loses track of her days, measuring them more by the bottles that she tosses into her recycling bin than by dates on her calendar. Still, it’s undeniably repetitive to watch her pour glass after glass and have a continuing series of drunken nights, even if it’s to purposefully elicit a numbing feeling. It’s a frustrating watch by nature, but Exarchopoulos is so committed to the story and captivating throughout that she invites the audience’s unwavering attention. It’s impossible to want to look away, both from Garance’s triumphs and her falls.
“Another Day” is an engaging, engrossing story about the surprising ways that addiction can manifest, affecting everyone in the addict’s orbit. Thanks to the lead actress and the filmmakers’ dual efforts, it avoids being just another hard-to-watch story about a person who can’t help but make the worst choices. Instead, it’s a surprisingly funny, affirming, and powerful look at one individual’s highs and lows, showing her to be more relatable in her humanity than might be expected.
