{ "id": "epadcg33k9", "slug": "life-of-riley", "title": "Life of Riley", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance", "label": "Comedy and romantic films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-2013-to-2014", "label": "Comedies of 2013 to 2014", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-2013-to-2014" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-2013-to-2014.alpha-j-to-w", "label": "Titles J to W", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-2013-to-2014.alpha-j-to-w" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-2013-to-2014", "label": "Western Europe · 2001 to 2020: Comedies of 2013 to 2014", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-2013-to-2014", "path": [ { "id": "geo.weu", "label": "Western Europe", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2001", "label": "Western Europe · 2001 to 2020", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2001" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2001.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2001.culture" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance", "label": "Comedy and romantic films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-2013-to-2014", "label": "Comedies of 2013 to 2014", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-2013-to-2014" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Life of Riley (Aimer, boire et chanter) is Alain Resnais's 2013 final film, adapted from Alan Ayckbourn's 2010 play: three Yorkshire couples react to the unseen George Riley's terminal illness; Berlin Alfred Bauer and FIPRESCI prizes, released 26 March 2014.", "snippet": "Life of Riley (Aimer, boire et chanter) is Alain Resnais's 2013 final film, adapted from Alan Ayckbourn's 2010 play: three Yorkshire couples react to the unseen George Riley's terminal illness; Berlin Alfred Bauer and FIPRESCI prizes, released 26 March 2014.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-2013-to-2014.alpha-j-to-w", "markdown": "# Life of Riley\n\n**Life of Riley** (French: *Aimer, boire et chanter*) is a 2013 French comedy-drama directed by [Alain Resnais](https://www.edgepedia.org/alain-resnais), adapted from Alan Ayckbourn's 2010 play *Life of Riley*, and the final film of Resnais's career.[1](https://www.europe1.fr/culture/Aimer-boire-et-chanter-dernier-film-d-Alain-Resnais-648682) • [2](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm-207625/secrets-tournage/) It premiered in competition at the 64th [Berlin International Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/berlin-international-film-festival) in February 2014, won the Alfred Bauer Prize and the FIPRESCI Prize, and was released in France on 26 March 2014, twenty-five days after Resnais died on 1 March at the age of 91.[3](https://miff.com.au/festival-archive/films/25240/life-of-riley) • [4](https://cineuropa.org/fr/film/249905/) • [2](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm-207625/secrets-tournage/)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Original title | *Aimer, boire et chanter*; international title *Life of Riley*[4](https://cineuropa.org/fr/film/249905/) |\n| Director | Alain Resnais (1922–2014), his 19th and final feature[5](https://www.sacd.fr/sites/default/files/2014_mar_bible_hommage_resnais.pdf) |\n| Source | Alan Ayckbourn's play *Life of Riley* (2010), Resnais's third Ayckbourn adaptation after *Smoking/No Smoking* (1993) and *Cœurs* (2006)[2](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm-207625/secrets-tournage/) |\n| Runtime and country | 108 minutes, France[4](https://cineuropa.org/fr/film/249905/) |\n| Cast | Sabine Azéma, Hippolyte Girardot, Caroline Silhol, Michel Vuillermoz, Sandrine Kiberlain, André Dussollier, Alba Gaïa Bellugi[6](https://www.academie-cinema.org/films/aimer-boire-et-chanter/-36304/) |\n| Awards | Alfred Bauer Prize and FIPRESCI Prize, 64th Berlin International Film Festival (2014)[3](https://miff.com.au/festival-archive/films/25240/life-of-riley) |\n| French release | 26 March 2014 (distributor Le Pacte)[4](https://cineuropa.org/fr/film/249905/) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nThe story is set in the [Yorkshire](https://www.edgepedia.org/yorkshire) countryside, where the lives of three couples are upset over a few months, from spring to fall, by the enigmatic behavior of their friend George Riley.[7](https://medias.unifrance.org/medias/140/214/120460/presse/life-of-riley-presskit-english.pdf) The country doctor Colin inadvertently tells his wife Kathryn that his patient George has only months to live, not knowing that George was Kathryn's first love.[7](https://medias.unifrance.org/medias/140/214/120460/presse/life-of-riley-presskit-english.pdf) The news travels to Jack, George's best friend, and to George's former wife Monica, who now lives with the farmer Simeon.[8](https://www.lemonde.fr/cinema/article/2020/04/14/un-vaudeville-des-frissons-ou-l-apocalypse-des-films-pour-oublier-le-confinement_6036600_3476.html)\n\nGeorge never appears on screen. [Le Monde](https://www.edgepedia.org/le-monde) describes the film as a vaudeville built entirely on a character the audience never sees.[8](https://www.lemonde.fr/cinema/article/2020/04/14/un-vaudeville-des-frissons-ou-l-apocalypse-des-films-pour-oublier-le-confinement_6036600_3476.html) The three women, all of whom have loved George, compete to accompany him on a final holiday to Tenerife, to the distress of their husbands.[7](https://medias.unifrance.org/medias/140/214/120460/presse/life-of-riley-presskit-english.pdf) To distract the dying man, the couples invite him to join their amateur theater troupe, which is rehearsing a play, and the story of the rehearsal bleeds in and out of the characters' real lives.[7](https://medias.unifrance.org/medias/140/214/120460/presse/life-of-riley-presskit-english.pdf) • [9](https://www.theavalon.org/films/life-riley/) In the ending, George leaves instead with a 16-year-old girl and dies in a diving accident.[10](https://girard.perso.math.cnrs.fr/FILMS.pdf)\n\n## Style and production\n\n**Filmed theater as a method.** Resnais had adapted Ayckbourn twice before, in *[Smoking/No Smoking](https://www.edgepedia.org/smoking-no-smoking)* (1993) and *Cœurs* (2006), and *Life of Riley* continues that collaboration.[2](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm-207625/secrets-tournage/) The production companies were F comme Film, France 2 Cinéma, and Solivagus Productions, with Jean-Louis Livi as producer.[11](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/122610.html) The screenplay is by Alex Réval and Laurent Herbiet, with dialogue by Jean-Marie Besset; Mark Snow composed the original music, Jacques Saulnier designed the sets, Jackie Budin the costumes, Dominique Bouilleret photographed the film, and Hervé de Luze edited it.[11](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/122610.html)\n\nThe staging is deliberately artificial. The gardens are made of cardboard and the houses are painted on strips of cloth, and the action is punctuated by illustrations from the cartoonist Blutch and by close-ups set against comic-strip grids.[11](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/122610.html) • [12](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/life-of-riley/) Resnais explained in the press kit that he wanted the viewer to keep changing his mind about whether he was watching filmed theater or cinema, moving between the two and sometimes into comic strips; he cited [Raymond Queneau](https://www.edgepedia.org/raymond-queneau)'s word \"la brouchecoutaille,\" a kind of ratatouille, for the mixture.[7](https://medias.unifrance.org/medias/140/214/120460/presse/life-of-riley-presskit-english.pdf) He also described the central staging problem as how a movie audience can understand that there are four gardens that do not touch each other.[13](https://kinolorberbucket.s3.amazonaws.com/production/documents/LIFEOFRILEY_Presskit.pdf)\n\n## The title\n\nThe French title has nothing to do with the play's title. Resnais said the choice was a question of rhythm: Ayckbourn's play was permeated by [Pink Floyd](https://www.edgepedia.org/pink-floyd)'s music, which fixed it in the 1960s and 1970s, an era he wanted to move away from.[7](https://medias.unifrance.org/medias/140/214/120460/presse/life-of-riley-presskit-english.pdf) The film had carried the working title *Le Bonheur de vivre* before taking its final name from a song recorded by Georges Thill, with lyrics by Lucien Boyer on a melody by Strauss, an epicurean waltz whose refrain runs \"Sachons aimer, boire et chanter, c'est notre raison d'exister\" (Let us know how to love, drink, and sing, that is our reason to exist).[14](https://www.letemps.ch/culture/ecrans/alain-resnais-vie-apres-mort) The English phrase \"life of Riley\" means an easy, carefree life.[14](https://www.letemps.ch/culture/ecrans/alain-resnais-vie-apres-mort)\n\n## Resnais's farewell\n\nResnais was 91 when he made the film, and he assembled his regular troupe, joined by Sandrine Kiberlain, the only cast member new to his ensemble.[11](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/122610.html) • [2](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm-207625/secrets-tournage/) Sabine Azéma, his wife and longtime leading actress, played Kathryn; it was her tenth role under his direction since *La Vie est un roman* (1983).[2](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm-207625/secrets-tournage/) Caroline Silhol, who played Tamara, had already written her own French stage adaptation of the play without knowing Resnais would offer her a role in the film.[2](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm-207625/secrets-tournage/)\n\nAt the time of the Berlin premiere, Resnais was already working on a screenplay for a planned adaptation of Ayckbourn's play *Arrivals & Departures*.[15](https://biography.alanayckbourn.net/styled-5/styled-19/BiographyFAQFilm.html) He died on 1 March 2014, before the French release.[2](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm-207625/secrets-tournage/) The FIPRESCI jury wrote that the film \"testifies to an artist who loved to play games, to give free rein to his imagination and, above all, to celebrate life, even in the presence of death.\"[3](https://miff.com.au/festival-archive/films/25240/life-of-riley) Kino Lorber released the film in the United States under the title *Life of Riley*.[9](https://www.theavalon.org/films/life-riley/)\n\n## Reception\n\nFrench critics were divided but largely admiring of the film's formal play. Le Monde praised its \"maximal\" economy and dialogues \"nicely chiseled\" by Jean-Marie Besset; Les Inrockuptibles highlighted the mixture of aerial views, Blutch illustrations, and torn-cloth sets; L'Obs, by contrast, called it a somewhat dated, overplayed studio film.[16](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm-207625/critiques/presse/) AlloCiné's press roundup averaged 3.7 out of 5 across 26 reviews, while its audience score stood at 2.2 out of 5 from 764 ratings.[16](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm-207625/critiques/presse/) • [17](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm-207625/critiques/spectateurs/) Several critics noted the film's kinship with *Vous n'avez encore rien vu* (2012), its immediate predecessor, as a diptych: both stage actors around a play and a death, with *Aimer, boire et chanter* answering the earlier film's dark interior with bright English countryside exteriors redrawn as painted backdrops.[18](https://www.senscritique.com/film/aimer_boire_et_chanter/critique/29744206)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Aimer, boire et chanter, dernier film d'Alain Resnais, Europe 1](https://www.europe1.fr/culture/Aimer-boire-et-chanter-dernier-film-d-Alain-Resnais-648682)\n2. [Anecdotes du film Aimer, boire et chanter, AlloCiné](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm-207625/secrets-tournage/)\n3. [Life of Riley, MIFF Festival Archive](https://miff.com.au/festival-archive/films/25240/life-of-riley)\n4. [Aimer, boire et chanter, Cineuropa](https://cineuropa.org/fr/film/249905/)\n5. [Bible SACD, hommage à Alain Resnais, mars 2014](https://www.sacd.fr/sites/default/files/2014_mar_bible_hommage_resnais.pdf)\n6. [Aimer, Boire et Chanter, Académie des César](https://www.academie-cinema.org/films/aimer-boire-et-chanter/-36304/)\n7. [Life of Riley press kit (English), UniFrance / Le Pacte](https://medias.unifrance.org/medias/140/214/120460/presse/life-of-riley-presskit-english.pdf)\n8. [Un vaudeville, des frissons ou l'apocalypse, Le Monde](https://www.lemonde.fr/cinema/article/2020/04/14/un-vaudeville-des-frissons-ou-l-apocalypse-des-films-pour-oublier-le-confinement_6036600_3476.html)\n9. [Life of Riley (Aimer, Boire et Chanter), The Avalon Theatre Project](https://www.theavalon.org/films/life-riley/)\n10. [Aimer, boire et chanter, notes on films by Alain Resnais (Girard)](https://girard.perso.math.cnrs.fr/FILMS.pdf)\n11. [Aimer, boire et chanter, La Cinémathèque française](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/122610.html)\n12. [Life of Riley, Film at Lincoln Center](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/life-of-riley/)\n13. [Life of Riley press kit, Kino Lorber](https://kinolorberbucket.s3.amazonaws.com/production/documents/LIFEOFRILEY_Presskit.pdf)\n14. [Alain Resnais, la vie après la mort, Le Temps](https://www.letemps.ch/culture/ecrans/alain-resnais-vie-apres-mort)\n15. [Alan Ayckbourn's Official Website, FAQ on film adaptations](https://biography.alanayckbourn.net/styled-5/styled-19/BiographyFAQFilm.html)\n16. [Critiques presse pour le film Aimer, boire et chanter, AlloCiné](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm-207625/critiques/presse/)\n17. [Critique du film Aimer, boire et chanter, AlloCiné spectateurs](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm-207625/critiques/spectateurs/)\n18. [Avis sur le film Aimer, boire et chanter par BlueKey, SensCritique](https://www.senscritique.com/film/aimer_boire_et_chanter/critique/29744206)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of 2013 to 2014 › Titles J to W*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/life-of-riley", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/life-of-riley.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Life of Riley\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/life-of-riley. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Life of Riley](https://www.edgepedia.org/life-of-riley)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/life-of-riley](https://www.edgepedia.org/life-of-riley). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Life of Riley\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/life-of-riley. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Life of Riley is Alain Resnais's 2013 final film, adapted from Alan Ayckbourn's 2010 play: three Yorkshire couples react to the unseen George Riley's terminal illness; Berlin Alfred Bauer and FIPRESCI prizes, released 26 March 2014." }