‘Six Days in Spring’ Review: An Illicit Vacation Transforms a Family’s Bond in a Wistful French Drama of Class and Privilege

According to Belgian director Joachim Lafosse, his latest, Six Days in Spring (Six jours ce printemps-là), was inspired by a memorable break from his own childhood in which he, his brother and their mother effectively squatted at the fancy second home owned by his father’s parents. The personal nature of that inspiration may explain the film’s wistful tenderness and low-key atmosphere.

Sure, this quiet drama is spiked by a certain amount of suspense over whether the family at its center will get caught. But the dramatic tension hums on a much mellower frequency compared to Lafosse’s usually higher-pitched families-in-crisis stories (see A Silence, Our Children, The Restless), making this practically a light comedy by his standards.

That shift in tone doesn’t entirely pay off. The elliptical storytelling in Lafosse’s script (written in collaboration with Chloé Duponchelle and Paul Ismaël) arguably holds back too much information,…