The Argument: Alain is a respected businessman and a brilliant speaker. He is constantly racing against time. In his life, there is no room for leisure or family. One day, he suffers a stroke that halts him in his tracks and results in severe speech and memory disorders. His rehabilitation is overseen by Jeanne, a young speech therapist. Through hard work and patience, Jeanne and Alain will get to know each other, and each, in their own way, will finally attempt to rebuild and take the time to live.
This is what happened to Christian Streiff in 2008. A man of influence, a prominent CEO who was a major player on the CAC 40, he held the positions of General Manager of Saint-Gobain, President of Airbus, and PSA Peugeot Citroën before needing to hide his illness from the public to avoid alarming shareholders.
He documented his lengthy rehabilitation and the lessons from his stroke in his book “I Was in a Hurry,” in which he recounts how, no longer able to work and having lost the exceptional memory that made him one of the most feared and respected executives in the automotive industry, he was dismissed after years of good and loyal service.
Embarking on a solo venture after several films made in collaboration with Géraldine Nakache, Hervé Mimran sought to reveal the man behind the great CEO, suddenly confronted with life’s fragility and a reconstruction that was not planned in his schedule.
Following his stroke, the character embodied by a deeply vulnerable Fabrice Luchini is betrayed by a company for which he had given everything so far. In losing his job, this man, who resembles so many others and must face the tragedies of his existence with the means at his disposal, realizes it’s time to pause, reflect, and make time for himself and his loved ones.
The character of Leïla Bekhti, who forgets herself as much as her patient for the sake of her job, brings considerable tenderness to people betrayed by their own bodies, and to a film that lingers on all those people and all those seemingly insignificant things that one loses throughout life.
“I’ll rest when I’m dead,” said Christian Streiff. If it’s true that anything can happen at any moment, it is best not to wait until then.
