A Christmas Tale (2008)

"Great, chaotic, unsettling fun." - Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

“A film experience to be seen and savored for its exquisite delineation of human feelings and foibles." - Andrew Sarris, New York Observer

"A movie that is almost indecently satisfying and at the same time elusive, at once intellectually lofty — marked by allusions to Emerson, Shakespeare and Seamus Heaney as well as Nietzsche — and as earthy as the passionate provincial family that is its heart and cosmos and reason for being." - A.O. Scott, The New York Times

"A compellingly literate exploration of the misguided motives and lingering regrets that bind families together." - David Parkinson, Empire Magazine

"What Desplechin has given us…is a benediction." - Stephanie Zacharek, Salon

For some, Christmas means the joy of spending time with loved ones, but not for the Vuillard family. In Arnaud Desplechin's blackly comic A Christmas Tale, instead of eggnog, vinegar and bile flow at the family get-together when estranged son Henri (Mathieu Amalric, the latest Bond villain in Quantum of Solace) returns for the holidays. His mother, Junon (French legend Catherine Deneuve), has cancer, and Henri may be the bone marrow donor match that could save her life. Oldest daughter Elizabeth (Anne Consigny, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) is equally unhappy to see her brother; he has been an emotional and financial drain on the family, and she had him legally banished from the family six years ago. But with his return, old wounds are freshly opened as the entire family gathers for what could be their last Christmas together.

An official selection at the Cannes Film Festival, a New York Times Critics' Pick, and nominated for 9 César Awards, A Christmas Tale is well served by its knockout ensemble cast and creative team. Director Desplechin (Kings and Queen) strikes a perfect balance between uncomfortable family moments and unruly comedy, and his postmodern filmmaking style is perfectly suited to the material. The film is not destined to be a feel-good holiday classic à la It’s a Wonderful Life, but A Christmas Tale is a lively, capricious, mischievous ensemble delight.

152 minutes