On a eu la journée bonsoir (We Had the Day Bonsoir). 2022. France. Directed by Narimane Mari. With Michel Haas. In English, French; English subtitles. New York premiere . 61 min.
Narimane Mari’s latest film, a tribute to her late partner, the artist Michael Haas, transcends eulogy to craft an ode to life as vivid and unruly as grief itself. “Dying is an adventure, the last one, and we lived it,” notes Mari, who has composed a fragmentary and intimate account of her life with Haas. We revisit his appearances in the director’s previous films, or see him in the studio, at home, within a shared world populated by music and poetry. But mostly, we listen to voices messages sent between lovers over the years, we listen to doctors, and we sit with the silences. A portrait of a painter and a moving chronicle of illness, We Had the Day Bonsoir is above all a loving dialogue that lives on through cinema.