the wanderings of a forty-year-old, between vaudeville and existential chronicle

Pascal Thomas’ new film invites us to follow Victor, a whimsical character, who undertakes a journey through time, by bicycle, by Vespa and by train.

The journey in pajamas, Pascal Thomas’ 20th film, paints the portrait of a literature professor on sabbatical leave, who retraces the course of his life during a bike ride. A friendly and light film, like its main character, to be seen in theaters from January 17, 2024.

Victor (Alexandre Lafaurie), literature professor, married, owner of a meteorologist frog, has decided to take a one-year sabbatical. He accompanies his wife, Anne (Barbara Schulz), to the airport, who is flying off on a humanitarian trip, apparently with her lover. Having not taken the time to put on pants, it is in his pajamas that Victor meets Sofia (Anouchka Delon) the wife of his wife’s lover at the airport, and he decides to follow her on the paths of Compostela, by bicycle.

Quickly tired of following the energetic Sofia, Victor turns off and continues his journey alone. “We can’t predict anything…”declares this dreamer who lets himself “carry like a cork on the water”. From reunion to encounter, he goes back in time, reunites with his ex-girlfriends, but also his former Latin teacher, turned gentleman burglar (Pierre Arditi).

The court of exes

Victor, who admits “not understanding himself”, will he end up seeing things more clearly? Will his little escapade end, as one of his former mistresses (Irène Jacob) predicts for him? “a return to mom’s house… Before a dream tribunal of the women in his life, he asks for indulgence. And it is with a mother, but not the one we think, that Victor will ultimately complete his “journey in pajamas”.

Between vaudeville and existential chronicle, this new film by Pascal Thomas paints the portrait of a forty-year-old at the crossroads. We follow with pleasure this wandering filmed in pretty bucolic and spring landscapes, punctuated by cheerful original music by Reinhardt Wagner. The effective staging is made up of funny and well-crafted sketches, which follow one another with the fluidity of the river, the bicycle, the Vespa, or even the trains which cross the film.

We rejoice with Victor in this aimless walk, a recreation in a world where most people pursue one, but this light and sympathetic fable leaves us, like Victor passing through life without stopping, an impression of a current of fresh air, nothing more.

The sheet

Gender : Comedy-drama, Romance
Director: Pascal Thomas
Actors: Alexandre Lafaurie, Barbara Schulz, Constance Labbé, Lolita Chammah
Country : France
Duration : 1h29 min
Exit : January 17, 2023
Distributer : French Films

Synopsis : Victor, in his forties, professor of literature on vacation and amateur forecaster at Météo-France, is a will-o’-the-wisp, a friendly dilettante, who lets himself live with the wind, alongside his companion, Anne, who is beginning to get tired of it. In this road movie in the form of a sentimental chronicle that is both burlesque and melancholic, he will tour the places of his past. He will find “what has become” of his friends. He will especially come across his former companions. They all regret him but they all also have something to reproach him for: perhaps because they loved this being so lovable, dreamy, unpredictable, but above all elusive… Go figure