A Christmas Tale

This one, however, is not for everyone. Most people will probably not only have trouble with its length, but its style, as well. Both as wild as it is imaginative, this film is like a post-modern jazz score, mixing elements from a variety of cinematic styles that are jarring (at times), but always interesting to behold. And as long as the film is, it always keeps moving and changing before our very eyes. What makes its odd stylistic combinations work is the compelling depths of its explorations into family and the bonds the unite, or divide us. Like and The Royal Tennenbaums, with a nouvelle vague twist, the film is not only full of odd combinations of image and music, but seems to jump from one film to another from scene to scene, as if each character or emotional quality (from light comedy to serious drama) were each receiving its own rendering. At times, the characters turn and speak directly to the camera. The filmmaker also intercedes by providing chapter headings and keyhole views, but, somehow, what could have become a cacophony of chaos, turns into a wonderment of cinema that any real cinephile will be amazed to behold and want to experience again....

Got roped in with Catherine Deneuve but this was not what it promised to be. Certainly not a Christmas movie and not exactly a family drama. It's not absurd enough to qualify for a satire, it's not ridiculous enough to be funny and it doesn't have enough bite to qualify for a hard-core family drama. It just sits somewhere in between not sure of what it wants to be and it doesn't succeed at any of it but it also doesn't necessarily fail, however I think it's biggest flaw is that it is unbearably long. I checked the time so many times and I told myself I made the wrong choice for the evening. It just doesn't know how to end and then it just does without much of a resolution.

Anyway these people are tough to crack or empathize with and certainly this is a French movie. The Sylvia-Ivan-Simon story is very French. I would not stand for that.

Henri and Elizabeth - there's no breakthrough or even clarification, revelation. Paul doesn't make much of an impact. Faunia was most likely underused as a character. The mother is also an enigma. Casually stating which children you like and which you do not, unless you're making it funny or dramatic is just pointless. Ok having your daughter play your daughter in law and saying you do not like her in the movie is kind of funny, but I just realized this now, not during it.

I guess it forgot it needs to be a movie and make some sort of point. Any point. Still, rating it as average for the actors, who are the highlight of this whole affair. I would've had a much worse time with some random actors.

A plethora of awesome actors in perfect symbiosis, refined dialogues, a sense of humor very dark and even cynical, jubilant duels between brothers and sisters, a surrealistic conversation (a kind of 'I love you, neither do I') between a mother and her son, probabilistic calculations on life expectancy, ... It is a real delight but definitely not a Christmas tale. I loved this atypical, dysfunctional and weird family!

I can't say I'm a huge fan of Arnaud Despleshin's films, but of all the ones I've seen, this is my favorite. The first few scenes of the movie, with its flashbacks and quick cuts seem disjointed at first, but it does really quickly pull you into the family situation. And when the family does finally arrive altogether at the Vuillard house, you almost feel as if you're one of the guests. All the actors are wonderful, but I must say that Amalric, who almost always plays this type of character in Despleshin films (Kings and Queen, My Sex Life, etc.) is terrific in this film. He's much more likable here. And Emmanuelle Devos has such presence in this movie that she steals pretty much every scene she's in. The rest of the cast, Deneuve, Rousillion and Cosigny are all terrific.

I love how the script deals with so many subjects, not only of the family history and Junon's need for a donor, but also touches on everything from mathematics to philosophy to literature, to all types of music, religion, and all geared towards how all these things enhance, and does not consume, the life of the family. It was very refreshing to see this family, although messed up in so many ways, to live free of convention, children curse, everyone's smoking and/or drinking, telling each other what they really feel and think and/or not feel and think. I also liked that the house felt like a house that people actually lived in.

This is an extremely dysfunctional family. Everybody seems to be aware of their part in it and don't really care.

The great engine is the alcoholic son, who provokes everyone. One tool is the fact that his mother's got cancer and he and his nephew are the only one who can save her. The alcoholic uses it for attacks on the family and not at least the mother. And the characters are forced to develop, not necessarily for the better.

The humor keeps you interested in this chamber play and the 145 minutes never feel long. A quite French movie, but fully appreciable for all of us. A Christmas tale which is both dark and light.