Voici dimanche is a weirdly cozy time capsule

Should you actually watch this?

If you have a soft spot for grainy black-and-white films where not much happens, then yes. You'll probably like this if you enjoy just watching people exist in a different time.

If you need explosions or a plot that moves fast, you are going to absolutely hate this. It moves at the speed of a sleepy afternoon.

It’s funny how 1929 feels both a million years ago and also just like last week. People in Voici dimanche are mostly just trying to have a good Sunday, which is a vibe I think we all still get.

The movie follows a few different folks, but honestly, the plot is kind of a mess. It feels like someone took a bunch of postcards and tried to make them walk and talk.

Marthe Mussine is the standout here. She has these incredibly expressive eyes that seem to be doing 90% of the acting work while the men just sort of stand around looking stiff in their suits.

There is this one scene in a cafe where the lighting is just... off. It makes everyone look like they are made of wax, but somehow it adds to the charm? ☕

I found myself staring at the background more than the actors. The way the streets look, the weirdly tall bicycles, and the way people held their cigarettes back then is just fascinating to me.

It doesn't have the high-energy chaos of something like The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks. It’s much more grounded, almost like a home movie that accidentally became a real production.

Pierre Bayle plays the lead guy, and he’s fine, I guess. He has this very specific way of adjusting his hat that he does about six times in the first twenty minutes.

I wonder if he was nervous or if the director just thought it looked cool. Either way, it’s all I could look at after a while.

The film has this slightly jagged rhythm. Some scenes go on for way too long, like a shot of a door closing that lingers for a solid ten seconds after the person is gone.

Other parts feel rushed, like they ran out of film and had to wrap up a conversation in two blinks. It’s imperfect, but that’s why I liked it.

It’s not trying to be a masterpiece. It feels like a movie made by people who just wanted to capture a specific feeling of a French weekend before the world got even messier.

Compared to something more theatrical like The Actress, this feels almost modern in how casual it is. No one is over-acting too much, except for maybe Tony D'Algy, who seems to think he's in a much bigger drama.

There's a lot of walking. So much walking. If you ever wanted to know exactly how a 1920s Frenchman walks down a dusty path, this movie has you covered.

The music (well, the score added later to the version I saw) was a bit distracting. It was too bouncy for what was happening on screen, like the composer was watching a different movie entirely.

I kept thinking about how these people didn't know what was coming in the next decade. There’s a sadness to it if you think too hard, so it’s better to just focus on the hats. 🎩

Colette Darfeuil shows up and she’s great, but she isn't in it nearly enough. She has this sharp energy that the rest of the movie kind of lacks.

The ending isn't really an ending. It just sort of... stops? It’s like the movie decided Sunday was over and it was time to go to bed.

I wouldn't call it a classic, but it’s a neat little window into a world that’s gone. It’s better than a lot of the stiff, stagey stuff from that era, even if the print is a bit scratched up.

Actually, the scratches and the flicker make it better. It feels like you're looking through a dusty window at a party you weren't invited to. 🎞️

Is it as funny as Marry Month of May? Probably not. But it has more soul in its quiet moments.

If you're bored on a rainy day, give it a shot. Just don't expect it to change your life or anything. It’s just a Sunday.

Random observations:

• The dog in the park scene looks like it’s having a better time than most of the humans.
• Why are the collars on the men's shirts so high? It looks painful.
• There is a lot of wine drinking, obviously.
• The editing in the final third gets really choppy, like they lost a reel in the mail.

Anyway, it’s a decent watch if you’re in the right mood. Not a masterpiece, just a nice, slightly broken little film.