Netflix has just released its brand new romantic comedy, and the reviews are unanimous: you will be won over, but it will be painful.
The year is off to a strong start for Netflix. After massive announcements for the 2024 sequel, the streaming platform has just released its new baby, adapting a best-selling novel: One Day, by David Nicholls.
The most passionate spectators of romantic comedies surely know that there is already a film with Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess. But this time, the format chosen was the series. 14 episodes of around thirty minutes await Netflix subscribers, to discover the intertwined lives of Emma (Ambika Mod) and Dexter (Leo Woodall), always returning to the same day of July 15 across 20 years.
Make no mistake: far from being romantic, the plot dissects the relationships between the two lovebirds who flirt between friendship and love. The secondary characters are also entitled to their preferential treatment, adding a welcome complexity and depth between each member of the cast. And the story is not always enchanting, refusing to easily ignore journeys that are sometimes complicated and painful for the protagonists.
And the critics obviously really appreciated this Netflix version of the story imagined by David Nicholls!
Netflix’s romantic series One Day convinced critics
Rarely acclaimed, works of romance are often minimized or snubbed, too often borrowing from patterns seen and reviewed. Which is not the case for Un jour, according to Le Monde which stated in its review: “‘Un jour’ is a romantic comedy, – for once is not customary – about true love, which however, manages to escape from the classic and boring pattern.”
For its part, IndieWire does not hesitate to title its review with “The Netflix remake of One Day will break your heart (and that’s a compliment)” , while explaining in more detail that “As a series limited, ‘Someday’ leaves a far more memorable impression than it might have in a feature-length format, celebrating the chemistry, charm and adaptability of Mod and Woodall.”
For Allociné, who would have liked to have more than 14 episodes, the opinion is also clear: “In short, One Day is a new successful adaptation which will take you from laughter to tears, which will offer you a mirror as intense as necessary, and above all which will make you feel more alive than ever to the rhythm of a carefully chosen soundtrack.”
As for Variety, the media explains to us that “Unlike the 2011 film with Hathaway and Jim Sturgess, which seemed as monotonous as it was abrupt, Netflix’s ‘One Day’ flies away, the audience lingering with its characters.”
The most common argument is the chemistry between the two main characters, played by Leo Woodall (The White Lotus) and Ambika Mod (This Is Going To Hurt). But the duo could have been very different according to the actress, who explained in an interview for The Guardian that she had almost given up on the role: “I was an idiot!” she said, before adding “‘This Is Going To Hurt’ had just come out, and I felt overwhelmed. Add to that the fact that I love the book, and I kept telling myself, “I can’t do this, I shouldn’t, I’m not Emma.”»”.
Fortunately, the actress changed her mind and showed up for the auditions. A bet that paid off, according to the rave reviews for the series.
One Day has been available on Netflix since February 8, 2024.
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