A Christmas Tale (Un Conte de Noël)

21 May 2008 (France)

MPAA Rating: UNRATED

IMDB Rating: 7.1 / 10

Release Date:

Length: 150 min

Tags: comedy, drama

Director: Arnaud Desplechin

Writers:

Arnaud Desplechin

Emmanuel Bourdieu

Cast:

Junon

(Catherine Deneuve)

Abel, Junon's husband

(Jean-Paul Roussillon)

Elizabeth their oldest child

(Anne Consigny)

Henri their middle child

(Mathieu Amalric)

Ivan their youngest child

(Melvil Poupaud)

Claude - Elizabeth's husband

(Hippolyte Girardot)

Faunia, Henri's lover

(Emmanuelle Devos)

Sylvia - Ivan's wife

(Chiara Mastroianni)

Simon - Junon's nephew - the painter cousin

(Laurent Capelluto)

Paull, Elizabeth and Claude's son

(Emile Berling)

Basile, Ivan and Sylvia's son

(Thomas Obled)

Baptiste, Ivan and Sylvia's son

(Clément Obled)

Rosaimée, Abel's mother's girlfriend

(Françoise Bertin)

Spatafora, the family friend at Roubaix

(Samir Guesmi)

Doctor Zraïdi, the oncologist

(Azize Kabouche)

Editor Review

If you can get over the French subtitles and embrace this two and a half hour film you will not regret it. Limited release in the English-speaking world did not hold back the public's embrace of this film, and it is widely considered a modern classic.

We don't generally consider Christmas films to be among the elite in filmmaking. However, this film is certainly an exception. This 2008 French film was considered for the Cannes Film Festival's top prize, the Palme D'Or, showing once again that the French take their film seriously, no matter the topics or themes involved.

The film centres on the Christmas gathering of the Vuillard family, who have a lot of troubled back-story and strained relationships, which are very well developed, but overlap in ways that can overwhelm at times. Junon Vuillard, the mother of the clan is diagnosed with a degenerative cancer, and only a bone-marrow transplant will offer her any chance of survival. Attempts with her eldest - Elizabeth, an often overwrought playwright - and her youngest - Ivan, the logical problem-solver - were to no avail. And so, at the Christmas dinner the trouble-making middle child, Henri, who is openly disliked and was previously banished from the family, returns.

There are lots of references made in the film, from snippets of The Ten Commandments, Funny Face and A Midsummer Night's Dream from 1935, as well as quotes from Shakespeare, Nietzsche and more. Arnaud Desplechin seems to be saying that not even the lucky, the learned or the rich can avoid such familial problems. It revels in the differences of character that play out in family instances, and we can all relate to that.

The film has been compared to Johnathan Demme's Rachel Getting Married, which is not unfair, but there is a lot more playfulness on the surface here, despite the tension involved. Sure, there are interrogations on past foibles and the odd fist fight, but there are is also laughing, fireworks and decorating the Christmas tree, with some quick and piercing dialogue and a genuine message of good-will to all.

Fun Fact:

The film's origins stem from Desplechin's desire to make a French version of a Thanksgiving movie. He also cites the embarrassment of introducing friends to your family at a young age as an influence: "There's a shame in showing your family to friends because all the family's naked imperfections are revealed. You can't hide how ridiculous they are."