Lovely Day

The build-up toward saying, “I do,” in a room full of friends and family is stressful for just about everybody. Even so, the anxiety levels for the hero of Lovely Day — an energetic, perceptive, and often very funny new feature by Quebec’s Philippe Falardeau — are completely off the charts.

Though his bride-to-be, Virginie (Rose-Marie Perreault), is a steadying influence, Alain (Neil Elias) has no lack of sources for his overwhelming state of consternation. Among the culprits are his unreliable best friend and best man Édouard (Hassan Mahbouba) and his long-divorced parents, Yolande (Hiam Abou Chedid) and Elias (Georges Khabbaz). Yet as the day unfolds — which, thanks to the film’s unconventional structure, happens more than once, the timeline becomes as jumbled as the thoughts in poor Alain’s head — deeper reasons surface and each casts a new light on his actions and reactions.

Delightful and poignant in equal measure, the result playfully deconstructs the wedding movie while still providing all the richness and relatability that such stories provide. Adapted by Falardeau and Montreal writer Alain Farah from Farah’s autobiographical novel Mille secrets mille dangers, Lovely Day also boasts the same abundance of wit, warmth, and generosity of spirit that fill so many of Falardeau’s films. As agonizing as they may be to Alain, his travails yield a highly worthy addition to the director’s much-cherished body of work.

JASON ANDERSON