A Christmas Tale (2008)
The Vuillard's shared history of physical and mental illness, estrangement, self harm, and loss doesn't lead itself to the idea of a cheerful holiday season. But can a Christmastime reunion, a scheme concocted by three of the youngest family members, finally bring peace their clan?
Cast and Information
Directed By: Arnaud Desplechin
Written By: Arnaud Desplechin, Emmanuel Bourdieu
Starring: Catherine Deneuve, Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Devos, Melvil Poupaud, Hippolyte Girardot, Chiara Mastroianni, Anne Consigny, Laurent Capelluto, Jean-Paul Roussillon, Emile Berling
Country: France
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A Christmas Tale belongs to 27 collections
1. Criterion Collection (collaborative: moderated by caffe - 171 stars)
2. 21st Century Top 250 (collaborative: moderated by dardan - 50 stars)
3. Criterion Collection (Blu-ray) (collaborative: moderated by epiphany - 20 stars)
4. Christmas (collaborative: moderated by td888 - 16 stars)
5. Metacritic - Universal Acclaim (collaborative: moderated by sengir - 14 stars)
6. Films available in HD (collaborative: moderated by kubricksucks - 12 stars)
7. Paris (collaborative: moderated by td888 - 8 stars)
8. Skandies (collaborative: moderated by toro913 - 7 stars)
9. TSPDT 21st Century's Top 250 Most Acclaimed Films (2010) (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 6 stars)
10. TSPDT 21st Century's Top 250 Most Acclaimed Films (2012) (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 6 stars)
11. They Shoot Pictures: Top 100 Films of the 21st Century (collaborative: moderated by CCLZA - 5 stars)
12. Cannes 2008 Official Selection (collaborative: moderated by CCLZA - 4 stars)
13. Criterion Collection (Blu-ray and 4K) (public: PepeCamello - 3 stars)
14. Illness (collaborative: moderated by djross - 2 stars)
15. TSPDT 21st Century's Top 250 Most Acclaimed Films (2011) (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 2 stars)
16. Netflix Watch Instantly (public: dgeiser13 - 2 stars)
17. French director (collaborative: moderated by iconogassed - 1 star)
18. LesInrocks - 100 meilleurs films de la décennie (public: Thegoodboy - 1 star)
19. Photographed by Eric Gautier (collaborative: moderated by iconogassed)
20. Best 100 French films according to the press from AlloCiné (collaborative: moderated by Dr.N0)
21. SvenEriks Criterion Collection (collaborative: moderated by svenerik)
22. Movies I Saw in Theaters (public: theficionado)
23. The 28th International İstanbul Film Festival (public: parcaliham)
24. Filmspotting Ratings Project: Week 22 (public: PeaceAnarchy)
25. 2008: Year in Review (public: polanski28)
26. Djross French feature films I've seen (public: djross)
27. Olivier Assayas's Top 10 Criterion Collection Films (public: TychoCelchuu)
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| Stars | User | Rating | |
| 3 | st_fly | 65 60th |
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Good. A fragmented family is brought together due to an impending medical emergency. The film features the A-list of French cinema and looks it too. Unbelievable performances by the entire ensemble cast. The film deftly portrays the siblings' relationship, sacrifice..subtle love and intense hatred. Though it could have spent a bit less time on some of those facets as it feels too lengthy at times. But it has several great moments. Recommended.
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| 2 |  |
Bitch Alert | 80 78th |
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A long, majestic look at a dysfunctional family going through it's problematic past during the holidays. Give it a chance: I too only fell in love on the second viewing.
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| 1 |  |
willofgaia | 65 15th |
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Characters that are nowhere near interesting or dynamic to stay with for two-and-a-half hours, several unexplainable moments, and distracting editing sink a film with so much potential. I love films about dysfunctional families, but this was a major disappointment. Mathieu Amalric is the only reason to see this.
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| 1 |  |
CCLZA | 80 77th |
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As good as tragicomedies about family, love and death get. The writing is specially strong, with solid performances and a couple of powerfully executed scenes to back it up.
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| 1 |  |
Stain | 40 23rd |
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None of these characters are very interesting
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| 1 |  |
Icarus | 82 69th |
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The real strengths of this film are in its complex editing, its performances, and its inventive use of various forms to tell the story. And while I appreciate the various layers of the story following this family over a weekend, it takes a couple of extremely odd turns that remain unexplained (or unexplored) which serve more to create distance in a dissonant rather than invitingly mysterious way. That said, the formal qualities of the film are some of the best I've seen in recent world cinema.
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| 1 |  |
gor41 | 68 24th |
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French family drama with strong performances but rather too much abstract philosophizing and strange continental angst for me.
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| Average Percentile 62.18% from 396 Ratings |  |