A Christmas Tale DVD, 2008

aka Un Conte de NoÃ«l

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RRP: £19.99
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MovieMail's Review

Voted one of the Top 10 movies of 2008 by Sight and Sound critics, this wildly unseasonal DVD release fully deserves your attention. Michael Brooke explains why.

It's Christmas chez the Vuillards, and Junon and Abel prepare to welcome their various descendants: children Elizabeth, Henri and Ivan, their own offspring and various hangers-on. But this is no cosy seasonal heartwarmer: Junon (Catherine Deneuve) has just been diagnosed with liver cancer and her rare genetic ailment means she can only be cured by a transplant from a close relative. But with a family this replete with neurotics, alcoholics and schizophrenics, even getting them to sit together without a fist-fight is a challenge.

Mathieu Almaric is particularly outstanding as the troubled, widely loathed Henri, conceived specifically to save the life of his doomed oldest brother, and so estranged from his female relatives that his sister settled his debts on condition that he never speak to her again.

But if this makes Desplechin’s sprawling saga sound like a terminally depressing wrist-slitter, think again: it’s a wild, colourful Dickensian roundelay of a film, brimming with life and laughter, and so quick-witted that it barely wastes a second of its hefty running time.

Michael Brooke on 1st May 2009
View all 112 of Michael Brooke's reviews

Film Information

Director - Arnaud Desplechin

Produced - 2008

Main Language - French with English subtitles

Countries & Regions - European Film, French Film

Cast - Catherine Deneuve, Hippolyte Girardot, Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Devos, Chiara Mastroianni, Jean-Paul Roussillon

DVD Details

Certificate:	15	Publisher:	New Wave Films	Region:	2
Length:	153 mins	Cat No:	NW004
Format:	DVD Colour

Film Description

Arnaud Desplechin directs this darkly comic portrait of the troubled Vuillard family, headed by matriarch Junon (Catherine Deneuve). In the beginning, 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 the little Henri was unable to help his brother, and Joseph died, aged seven. Years later, the Vuillards reunite for Christmas Day at the family home in Roubaix to learn that Junon now has the same condition that killed Joseph, and her only hope is to find a donor within her family. With Elizabeth (Anne Consigny) and Henri (Mathieu Amalric) no longer on speaking terms, and her other son and grandchildren dealing with their own issues, can Junon and her family put the past behind them and deal with the future?