Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse

Arnaud Desplechin's Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse has been unfortunately retitled My Golden Days for Anglo consumption. This gives a rosy impression that the film is another of what my wife calls the dreaded tender coming of age films. The French title nods to the film's structure and has a tartness missing in the Anglo title. Whatever the title, it is an impressive addition to Desplechin's splendid filmography.

A number of American reviewers have described this film as nostalgic because of the period detail and 80s tunes. If anything, it is the opposite. The film functions as an auto-critique: Desplechin's alter ego, Paul Dedalus (the protagonist of Desplechin's 1996 film My Sex Life...), is the subjective voice of the film, but Desplechin shows that his protagonist's memories are one-sided and self-serving.

Desplechin uses irises throughout the film to stress the film's subjective approach. Dedalus is picking and choosing from his remembrances, but the film's narrative is entrapped by his point of view. Do we ever really get to know Paul's old beloved, Esther. More to the point and pity, did Paul?

Paul's teenage saga is told in three parts, two far from France. In the first, Paul is in Russia on a school trip. He and a classmate are, unbeknownst to their teachers, smuggling money and documents to refusenik Jews in the then Soviet Union. Paul even gives away his passport to a young man he resembles.

The second part commences in France where he returns in self-perceived triumph. The past for Paul is out of sight and out of mind. He embarks on his sentimental education by wooing Esther. Their bliss is short-lived as Paul is soon preoccupied by his studies. A one night stand with the married woman who is boarding him illustrates Paul self-absorption. His memory pictures the woman stripping off her skirt as if in an old stag film, not just once, but twice. The effect is patently ridiculous indicating that Desplechin does not want us to believe Paul is a reliable narrator. 

Paul is next abroad in Tajikistan, continuing his studies as an anthropologist. Naturally, his relationship to Esther has fallen apart and she has taken up with a mutual acquaintance. This gentleman reappears in a coda, decades later, where Paul unloads years of resentment in an ugly, yet bracing, scene. 

Desplechin has hinted in the prologue that Paul is damaged goods. We see his torment as he protects his siblings from their mentally ill mother. However, it is only in the epilogue that we see how closed off Paul is to other people. Mathieu Amalric rises to the challenge here, presenting Paul's monstrous side in an unflinching, taut manner. Quentin Dolmaire, as the young Paul, is no match for Amalric (who is), but, in his film debut, is an effective tabula rasa for Desplechin. Lou Roy-Lecollinet has little to do except smolder and pout, but she does give the film a little oomph. Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse is a knotty film that does not try to be ingratiating, but will reward repeat viewing. (3/28/17)