Elsa Zylberstein’s Directorial Leap: From Viral Sketches to ‘My Best Life’

When the pandemic forced everyone indoors, French actress Elsa Zylberstein found an unexpected outlet: a series of one‑minute Instagram sketches titled “Mytho du soir”. They were silly, a little over‑the‑top, and, surprisingly, they went viral – each clip racking up roughly 80,000 views.

Fast forward a few years, and those same sketches have become the seed for Zylberstein’s first feature‑length directorial effort, My Best Life. Rather than simply transcribing the gag‑filled videos, she and longtime collaborator Michael Pierrard built an entirely new story around the only thing they both agreed was essential – the central, ever‑dreaming character.

In the film, Zylberstein plays a struggling actress whose mother suffers a stroke and wakes up convinced her daughter is an international star. Instead of shattering the illusion, the heroine spins ever‑more elaborate fantasies to protect her mother – and, in the process, learns a little about the power of imagination itself.

“The film is really about the power of imagination,” Zylberstein told Variety. “The message is simple: believe in your dreams. Imagination can save you.” It’s a line that sounds almost like a self‑help mantra, but she backs it up with a tone that swings between gentle comedy and genuine pathos.

She admits the tone was inspired by a handful of movies she loves. Martin Scorsese’s The King of Comedy gave her the idea of a character always on the edge, while David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook and Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza taught her how to lace humor with heart. “I love stories that are funny and deeply moving at the same time,” she said with a smile.

Behind the camera, Zylberstein will co‑direct with Pierrard, who served as her assistant director on the original sketches and has apprenticed with the likes of Claude Lelouch, Leos Carax and Sofia Coppola. The cast includes French legend Miou‑Miou as the bewildered mother, Mathieu Demy as the protagonist’s childhood best friend, and – according to rumour – Lucas Bravo may pop up as a burnt‑out celebrity.

Financially, the project is modest but solid: UGC, the multiplex chain turned studio, is producing with backing from Canal+ and France Télévisions on a €3.6 million budget. The crew reads like a roll‑call of French cinema’s finest – production designer Jean Rabasse (‑“Jackie”), costume designer Pascaline Chavanne (‑“Nouvelle Vague”), Oscar‑winner sound designer Nicolas Becker (‑“Gravity”) and sound engineer Erwann Kerzanet (‑“Annette”).

For Zylberstein, this feels like the natural next step after three decades of acting, a César win for I’ve Loved You So Long and a recent lauded turn as Simone Veil in Olivier Dahan’s biopic. “I’ve learned so much from the great directors I’ve worked with,” she reflects. “Now I want to take everything they taught me and put it into practice.”