A Christmas Tale (Un Conte de Noël) Review
By David Kempler
A Forgettable Christmas Tale
It's Christmas in France and everyone is stirring, especially this bizarrely dysfunctional group that spans multiple generations. Renowned director Arnaud Desplechin is at the helm and he does his usual job of making it visually pleasing and telling a multi-layered tale. The cast, led by screen legend Catherine Deneuve as the matriarch, is also first-rate. Mathieu Amalric, Chiara Mastroianni and Hippolyte Girardot all do a nice job on the acting side of the ledger. While all of the pieces are in place, it never equals the sum of its parts.
All of the children and their children have gathered at their rearing grounds, a sprawling house that is incredibly inviting to an outsider. It is decorated beautifully without appearing garish or ostentatious. It feels lived in. The occasion is Christmas and it is a special one because Junon (Deneuve) has been recently diagnosed with cancer and she is desperately in need of a bone marrow transplant. One would never know that by Junon's manner. She is the picture of calm. Her husband, Abel (Jean-Paul Roussillon) is similarly unaffected on the surface. The same can be said, for the most part, for the entire family. Perhaps the most interesting thing about this is that it is not an attempt to be brave or to mask emotions. It is more that they are all living life as if it is pre-ordained and really not fretting over. I understand that the French culture is different than ours but I'm not buying this behavior. It doesn't ring true for me.
We quickly learn that years earlier the family has banished the alcoholic screw-up, Henri (Amalric), mostly at the behest of his eternally emotionally-devastated sister, Elizabeth (Anne Consigny). The whole matter seems incredibly contrived and unbelievable. Henri is back from exile for Christmas and, lo and behold, he is the only perfect match of Junon's children. Elizabeth has an emotionally problematic son who is also a match but it is no secret who will be chosen as donor.
"A Christmas Tale" is at times mildly enjoyable and watchable but it never grabs a hold of the viewer. It is more of an exercise and it might work better as a play, but if it is ever translated into that form, you will not bump into me at a performance.
