A Christmas Tale

Name: A Christmas Tale
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Released: November 14, 2008
Duration: 150 min
Rating: 84
Cast: Catherine Deneuve, Jean-Paul Roussillon, Mathieu Amalric

2008

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 32 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 45 Ratings

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6.9

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6.9	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 45 Ratings

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A Christmas Tale

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Movie Details & Credits

Criterion Collection, The | Release Date: November 14, 2008 | Not Rated

Starring: Catherine Deneuve, Jean-Paul Roussillon, Mathieu Amalric

Summary: Abel and Junon had two children, Joseph and Elizabeth. Victim of a rare genetic condition, Joseph's only hope was a bone marrow transplant. As they and Elizabeth were incompatible, his parents conceived a third child in the hope of saving their son. But little Henri too was unable to help his brother, and Joseph died at the age of seven.Abel and Junon had two children, Joseph and Elizabeth. Victim of a rare genetic condition, Joseph's only hope was a bone marrow transplant. As they and Elizabeth were incompatible, his parents conceived a third child in the hope of saving their son. But little Henri too was unable to help his brother, and Joseph died at the age of seven. The Vuillard family has never recovered. Many years have passed, and family relationships are more strained than ever. In particular, those between Elizabeth, authoritarian head of the family and Henri, a cynical drop out who divides his time between women and drink. After a violent argument, Elizabeth banishes her feckless brother, cutting him off from his nephew, her son Paul - a tortured adolescent beset by serious mental problems. Masterfully directed and acted, by turns savage, bittersweet, darkly comic and unbearably moving, A Christmas Tale shows internationally acclaimed Desplechin at the height of his powers. (IFC Films) … Expand

Director: Arnaud Desplechin

Genre(s): Drama, Comedy

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 150 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

Michael Sragow

At last, a great contemporary holiday movie that's strictly for grown-ups - a holiday movie that really is a moviegoer's holiday from desultory daily fare. Read full review

100

Lou Lumenick

Darkly hilarious, brilliantly acted. Read full review

100

Lisa Schwarzbaum

The movie is enchanting. Read full review

Steven Rea

Roiling with laughter, tears, drunken confessions, revelatory soliloquies, pain, sorrow, hospital visits, and various kinds of love, A Christmas Tale is a smart, sprawling, and sublimely entertaining feast. Read full review

Claudia Puig

If feuds, drunken outbursts and thoughtless bed-hopping sound like fun, then A Christmas Tale is a hoot. Some wry humor runs through the course of the overly long saga. But there's not enough dark wit to mitigate the tedium and pretentiousness. Read full review

Bernard Besserglik

Despite the name recognition of such actors as Catherine Deneuve and Mathieu Amalric, foreign audiences might be deterred by the movie's 143-minute length and the profusion of characters and interwoven story lines. Read full review

Andrea Gronvall

Characters occasionally address the camera, which helps disentangle the competing story lines of madness, adultery, and betrayal. Read full review

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User Reviews

ryancarroll88

Aug 27, 2010

From an American standpoint, it seems like a strange notion to gather an all-star cast to create a moving drama, especially under the guise of a Christmas film, but this is France we're talking about, and director Arnaud Desplechin (along with the whole cast) more than delivers. I wasFrom an American standpoint, it seems like a strange notion to gather an all-star cast to create a moving drama, especially under the guise of a Christmas film, but this is France we're talking about, and director Arnaud Desplechin (along with the whole cast) more than delivers. I was reminded a lot of "The Royal Tenenbaums" with the family struggles, and in many ways the two are similar. However, instead of wittiness being infused into the dialogue, Desplechin reserves the quirkiness for the camerawork with uncanny cinematography and editing. This lead to a strange dichotomy in which everything on screen was very tense and dramatic, but as a viewer I felt resilient and entertained the whole way through - after all, (family) drama is something we all can relate to.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

JeanR.

Dec 18, 2008

Superb movie. Maw should do herself a favor and stay away from complex, life-like contemporary French films. They are all deliberately "formless," like this one, because they're trying to imitate life, not wish it away.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

kevin

Jan 3, 2009

i'm not surprised by the middling user reviews for this. it's definitely artistic and unamerican (am i being redundant?), and it's not something that's easy to digest. that said, it contains real people and real emotions, something sadly missing from most movies these i'm not surprised by the middling user reviews for this. it's definitely artistic and unamerican (am i being redundant?), and it's not something that's easy to digest. that said, it contains real people and real emotions, something sadly missing from most movies these days. after viewing, i felt as if i had spent christmas with the family - a neat trick.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful

lasttimeisaw

Dec 26, 2013

Today is Christmas Day, so it is the most apposite time to watch this French drama, rife with cancer, marrow transplant, siblings rivalry, unstable mentality, chronic depression, familial incest and distant mother-child relationship, very Christmasy!

A follow-up of KINGS & QUEEN (2004,Today is Christmas Day, so it is the most apposite time to watch this French drama, rife with cancer, marrow transplant, siblings rivalry, unstable mentality, chronic depression, familial incest and distant mother-child relationship, very Christmasy!

A follow-up of KINGS & QUEEN (2004, 6/10), French art house director Arnaud Desplechin concocts a fine potpourri of familial entanglements around the bourgeois Vuillard family, opens with a consequential animated preamble of the loss of their eldest son Joseph at the age of 6 due to a hereditary blood disease while no compatible marrow transplant is found in both parents, the daughter Elizabeth (Consigny) and the second son Henri (Amalric), who is conceived to offer a cure to his elder brother. But time goes on, a third son Ivan (Poupaud) is born, and now they are all grown-ups, then the matriarch Junon (Denueve) discovers that she suffers from the same disease, the only compatible donors are Henri and Elizabeth’s son Paul (Berling), hence this Christmas, a family reunion is endowed with a more grave determinant, especially for the black sheep in the family Henri, after a 6-year banishment (due to an unspecified riff with Elizabeth), his return with his new Jewish girlfriend Faunia (Devos) will undoubtedly thrust the tension with Elizabeth’s family and have an impact on Junon’s final resolve to her impending treatment.

Screen time is almost equally allotted to the all-star cast with their own stories intermingle in a short span of the timeline, although the main stream focuses on Henri and Junon’s reconciliation, but it is not a beatific movie to bury the hatchet and embrace a pristine future, every family has its distinctive script written with plenitude of relatable interactions, notably, the mutual attraction between Ivan’s wife Sylvia (played by Chiara Mastroianni, Denueve’s real life daughter with Marcello Mastroianni) and Ivan’s cousin Simon (Capelluto) clicks wonderfully in the latter part of the film, it is very French as well, for moralistic puritans and prudes, it is a sheer crevice in their convictions which will prompt harsh opprobrium.

One trait of superfluity is the chunk of monologues, colloquies with staccato coherence, loose ends are all over the place, we can never decipher the real motivations and reasons behind certain behaviors which adhere to a particular terrain of mores; also the peephole shots introduces each chapter gives the film a stage structure and the occasional talk-to-the-camera shtick often comes out of nowhere, they may variegate the viewers’ recipiency but are inconsistent in the plot development and engender some distractions hinder the appreciation.

Amalric and Mastroianni are my pick among the ensemble, he is a true thespian with utter devotion while she bears her father’s resemblance and an arresting existence whenever she is on screen. Devos is enjoyable as an unobtrusive intruder (reminds me to watch an Angela Basset film), Denueve is as distant as always, graceful but stereotyped, Poupaud is too damn good-looking for his shyness and benevolence and Consigny is perpetually frowned and distressed, enclosed in her own little world, one might feel too depressed to invest in her.

In conclusion, it is not your average Christmas flick, but a less chic showpiece about kindred liaisons than Assayas’ SUMMER HOURS (2008, 8/10).… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Trailesque

Jan 11, 2022

I was not crazy about this at first. Oh heavens, thought I, a soapy French dramedy about a troubled bourgeois family that is gathering for their first Christmas together in years. And it is that, but as I watched, it grew on me. It is a Christmas tale for the 21st century, full ofI was not crazy about this at first. Oh heavens, thought I, a soapy French dramedy about a troubled bourgeois family that is gathering for their first Christmas together in years. And it is that, but as I watched, it grew on me. It is a Christmas tale for the 21st century, full of neurosis, but also laughter, emotion, and energy. There are fine performances and charming scenes. Not all of the casting choices are great, especially Roussillon as the paterfamilias; he seems more like an old comic actor than the businessman husband of Catherine Deneuve. The film often seems to be trying too hard to grab and hold the viewer's attention, but it does succeed.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

KatharineC.

Nov 28, 2008

How could anyone criticize a move that all the critics seem to love? I tend to like "art" movies with subtitles, but sitting through this darm family reunion was like a trip to the dentist's office: I kept wondering when it would end. At least the dentist's office with clean How could anyone criticize a move that all the critics seem to love? I tend to like "art" movies with subtitles, but sitting through this darm family reunion was like a trip to the dentist's office: I kept wondering when it would end. At least the dentist's office with clean teeth... but here? This movie contained two and a half hours of lingering resentment, maternal apathy, and a Christmas that nobody would feel nostalgic about -- leaving viewers with nothing but the question, "So What?" The best moment in the theater was when a man stood and declared, "I don't care if it's in French, it's still not a good movie." And then he bravely walked out -- leaving we posers behind. Give me a root canal any day.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful

DavidK

Dec 2, 2008

Among the worst movies out there today. The previews present this as a comedy and commentary on complicated families. It is neither. It's an over-long over-bearing jumble of disconnected "ideas." This emperor has no clothes. How is it possibly getting good reviews? We saw audience Among the worst movies out there today. The previews present this as a comedy and commentary on complicated families. It is neither. It's an over-long over-bearing jumble of disconnected "ideas." This emperor has no clothes. How is it possibly getting good reviews? We saw audience members fleeing mid-movie.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful

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