A Christmas Tale (2008)

Recommended

France

Feature Film

Original Title: Un conte de Noël

Director: Arnaud Desplechin

Writers: Emmanuel Bourdieu, Arnaud Desplechin

Cinematographer: Eric Gautier

Composer: Grégoire Hetzel

Cast: Catherine Deneuve, Jean-Paul Roussillon, Anne Consigny, Mathieu Amalric, Melvil Poupaud, Hippolyte Girardot, Emmanuelle Devos, Chiara Mastroianni, Laurent Capelluto, Emile Berling

Excellent performances abound from the wonderfully assembled cast in Desplechin’s entertaining family comedy/drama, in which members of the brilliant but dysfunctional Vuillards gather together for Christmas, for the first time in six years, as Deneuve’s matriarch’s health begins to fail, but the playful director’s frequent stylistic flourishes range from occasionally enchanting to often merely distracting. Iain.Stott