One Fine Morning (film)

Sandra Kienzler, a widow with a young daughter, Linn, works as a translator and interpreter. She cares for her father, Georg, a former philosophy teacher who has been diagnosed with a neurodegenerative disease called Benson's syndrome, which affects his cognitive and sight abilities.

She meets Clément, a friend of her late husband's, a married chemical cosmologist who has returned to Paris after a work expedition at the North Pole, at a park. They make plans for dinner. Clément takes Sandra to his lab after she expresses interest in his profession. There, they share a kiss. They start to have an affair afterwards.

Sandra's mother, Françoise, who has divorced Georg but helps care for him, informs Sandra that his condition is getting worse. He can no longer dress himself or use the bathroom, and has frequent hallucinations. She says it's time to put him in a nursing home, where he will receive the full-time care he needs – which Sandra agrees with. They encounter problems in where to place him. Public homes may take up to 2 years to vacate a room, and the private ones are too expensive. He's placed on a hospital until they can figure out his definitive residence.

Sandra bumps into one of Georg's former students, who is very fond of him. She explains his disease to her and gives her her e-mail so she can send Georg a letter. Following Georg's admission, Sandra and her family must clean his house, which is packed with books. She takes a few, but has the idea to contact the former student and offer her to take them.

At the hospital, Georg talks constantly about his girlfriend Leila, and is always confused about where he is and why. Sandra notices that his condition has progressed. He's moved temporary to a public home, as the hospital can no longer have him. But because he's somewhat independent in comparison to the other residents, the facility gives the family a week to find him a new home. They ultimately decide to place him at a private home.

Sandra's relationship with Clément starts to deteriorate: He can't muster the courage to leave his wife and son, and she doesn't want to be just his mistress. While at the park with Sandra and Linn, Clément sees friends of his wife, and they escape the park immediately. At home, they have a discussion, and Clément proposes they take a break and get together again once he leaves his wife.

While tidying her home, Sandra finds a little notebook Georg used to keep track of his declining health, along with other notebooks that she identifies as a rough manuscript of an autobiography Georg had once mentioned about writing. She tells her mom and sister, Elodie, about her findings during Christmas' dinner, and that one of the notebooks had a title written in German: "Um einem schönen Morgen", which she translates to French as "One Fine Morning".

Clément calls Sandra and informs her he ended his marriage. They meet, and start dating officially. Summer comes along. Sandra, Linn, and Clément go to visit Georg. They talk about their trip to Italy. Georg asks for Leila, and continues to state he doesn't know what he's doing there, or why he's there. He no longer recognizes his daughter or granddaughter. As they talk in his room, one of the nurses invites them to a group activity. Georg, along Sandra, Linn, and Clément join the other residents who are gathered in a circle. The are given lyrics to the song "Mon amant de Saint-Jean", and sing it in acappella together. Sandra becomes overwhelmed and starts crying. She tells Clément it is time to leave.

Sandra, Clément, and Linn decide to climb up the Sacré-Cœur Basilica's butte. As they arrive at the dome, they observe Paris.

• Léa Seydoux as Sandra Kienzler
• Pascal Greggory as Georg Kienzler, Sandra's father
• Melvil Poupaud as Clément, an old friend of Sandra
• Nicole Garcia as Françoise, Sandra's mother and Georg's ex-wife
• Fejria Deliba as Leïla, Georg's companion
• Camille Leban Martins as Linn, Sandra's daughter
• Sarah Le Picard as Elodie Kienzler, Sandra's sister
• Pierre Meunier as Michel

In September 2020, it was announced Léa Seydoux, Pascal Greggory, Melvil Poupaud, and Nicole Garcia had joined the cast of the film, with Mia Hansen-Løve directing from a screenplay she wrote.[5] Principal photography began in June 2021 in Paris.[6]

One Fine Morning is produced by Les Films Pelléas in co-production with Arte France Cinéma, Dauphin Films, Germany’s Razor Film and Mubi, while sales are in the hands of Les films du losange.[6] It was released in France on 5 October 2022, and was released in Germany on 8 December 2022.[7][8] It was invited to the 28th Kolkata International Film Festival and was screened on 16 December 2022.[9] The film will be released by Sony Pictures Classics in North America, Latin America, and the Middle East.[10]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 92% based on 84 reviews, with an average rating of 8.2/10.[11] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 86 out of 100, based on 30 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[12]

• One Fine Morning at IMDb 
• One Fine Morning at AllMovie