Margaux (Agathe Bonitzer) moves through her life aimlessly, dead end jobs, one night stands, useless boyfriends. She leaves her best friend Esther behind in Paris to spend some time with her parents in Lyon. Before she leaves she encounters a strange older woman who tells her not to go home with the guy with the moped.
Margaux (Sandrine Kimberlain) travels up from Paris for the funeral of her long lost friend Esther. At a party before she returns to Lyon she encounters a young woman who she can sense is heading for trouble.
On the train to Lyon the 45 year old Margaux tells what she perceives to be her 25 year old former self, about the mistakes she'll make, and what will become of her. Sceptical at first, the younger woman recognises that her older self knows things about her that she couldn't unless she were telling the truth. As they spend more time together each learns from the other, and that some mistakes have to be made to shape who we are.
A premise that could so easily fall flat is delivered here with charm, humour and surprising credibility. Avoiding any tricksy suggestions of time travel or dreams writer/director Sophie Fillières presents the story to her audience and asks us to accept what we see. She's helped greatly by excellent performances from the two leads who, despite little physical similarity, are perfectly believable as the younger and older versions their self. It's a movie I could happily watch again, aware that there are jokes and allusions I'll have missed out on first time around. Recommended.
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