87
Metascore
24 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 91The PlaylistOliver LytteltonThe PlaylistOliver LytteltonThe film doesn't reinvent the wheel: it is, ultimately, a middle-class-white-boy coming-of-age tale of the kind that the cinema of France, and elsewhere, has never been lacking. But it's written, shot, cut and performed with such palpable joy, intelligence and warmth that it ends up feeling entirely fresh.
- 91ConsequenceBlake GobleConsequenceBlake GobleArnaud Desplechin delivers a thrilling reminiscence that romanticizes and believes in youth’s ungraceful but intense splendors.
- Arnaud Desplechin’s My Golden Days is touching, involving and very well acted.
- 90VarietyJustin ChangVarietyJustin ChangDesplechin perfectly times the moment when drollery ends and anguish begins, and it’s that sense of vulnerability that lends the film an unexpected emotional force as it moves toward its return-home epilogue.
- 90Village VoiceDanny KingVillage VoiceDanny KingThere is serious pain in this movie — pain that endures throughout the years — but also a sincere love for life lived, and life remembered.
- 88New York PostLou LumenickNew York PostLou LumenickDesplechin draws uniformly superb performances from his young cast, making the coming-of-age genre seem fresh and vital.
- 83The Film StageThe Film StageA coming-of-age film with a broader perspecttive is always welcome, and it paradoxically makes this as evocative and convincing a portrait of youth as the best work of François Truffaut.
- 80The Hollywood ReporterBoyd van HoeijThe Hollywood ReporterBoyd van HoeijMy Golden Days more often privileges emotional truths over historical veracity. This helps not only to make the past dilemmas of the protagonists feel more immediate and real, but also suggests how, looking back, we see our lives as a succession of emotional experiences, not dry historical facts.
- 75Slant MagazineKenji FujishimaSlant MagazineKenji FujishimaArnaud Desplechin tries his hand at a coming-of-age tale, and does so with equal doses of mature reflection and youthful impetuosity.
- 50Movie NationRoger MooreMovie NationRoger MooreAs a stand-alone film it flirts with utter incoherence.