Synopsis
When their regal matriarch falls ill, the troubled Vuillard family come together for a hesitant Christmastime reunion. Among them is rebellious ne'er-do-well Henri and the uptight Elizabeth. Together under the same roof for the first time in many years, their intricate, long denied resentments and yearnings emerge again.
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Cast
- Catherine DeneuveJunon
- Jean-Paul RoussillonAbel
- Anne ConsignyElisabeth
- Mathieu AmalricHenri
- Chiara MastroianniSylvia
- Melvil PoupaudIvan
- Emmanuelle DevosFaunia
- Hippolyte GirardotClaude Dédalus
- Laurent CapellutoSimon
- Émile BerlingPaul Dédalus
Recommendations
- 100
Entertainment Weekly
The movie is enchanting. - 100
The New York Times
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. - 90
New York Magazine (Vulture)
Is A Christmas Tale a masterpiece? Maybe. I have to play with it longer. It's certainly Desplechin's most accessible film, in part because its dysfunctional-family-holiday-reunion genre is so comfy and its palette so warm. - 90
Village Voice
A heady plum pudding of a movie--studded with outsized performances and drenched in cinematic brio. The concoction is over-rich, yet irresistible. - 90
Wall Street Journal
Density of detail and intensity of experience are the twin distinctions of A Christmas Tale, a long, improbably funny and very beautiful film. - 88
Rolling Stone
Dark secrets are unlocked, words draw more blood than punches, and Desplechin turns one family into a universe that resembles life as a startling work of art. - 75
The A.V. Club
It's the definition of a film meant to be admired more than loved, but Desplechin's fierce intelligence and uncompromising sense of character come through, as does some of the sharp wit and stylistic flourishes left over from his last film, 2004's "Kings And Queen." - 70
The Hollywood Reporter
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.
