Fait d'hiver (2001) User Reviews

This left me very, very confused!!!!

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 8 February 2008]

About a week ago, I watched and loved a British short entitled DADDY'S LITTLE HELPER. I liked it so much, I couldn't wait to review it on IMDb. However, only a week later I stumbled upon FAIT D'HIVER and found that DADDY'S LITTLE HELPER was an almost exact copy--with only a few differences. Since then, DADDY'S LITTLE HELPER's director/co-writer, Daniel Wilson contacted me to swear the similarities were unintentional--which can happen and occasionally does. Ain't life odd?!

As for the film, it is super funny though there is some nudity (whereas in the British film there's none). I could try to explain what happened when the daddy calls his little girl, but it might ruin the suspense. Just see this cute and disturbing little short yourself--you'll be glad you did.

Entertaining take on one of those urban legends floating around.

[llltdesq · 8/10 · 15 December 2003]

This is well made, a tad ghoulish and darkly humorous, even if it does have what the late writer Damon Knight called an "idiot plot", which means that everyone in it has to be an idiot in order for the plot to work. Good cast, though really only two of them have much to do-the driver (finalist for the Village Idiot of the Year Award) and the little girl serving as catalyst for events. Everyone else is going for a Darwin Award and are spear-carriers otherwise. Decidedly adult in nature, this reminded me for all the world of Special Delivery, a cartoon done by Allison Snowden for the NFBC-different plot, to be sure, but the same mordant wit. Well worth watching, it's been shown on the Sundance Channel on one of their recent Shorts Program compilations. Recommended.

A mistake makes big accident

[railsskymt-k · 7/10 · 8 August 2017]

Tjis movie begins with the scene that a father calls home to talk to his wife in the car, but a daughter puts the call. When the father hears the name which he does not know, doubts to his wife suddenly arise. Thsi movie goes on through the conversation between the father and the daughter. This movie includes the element of a tragedy which is caused by the father's mistake. Fist of all, I was interested in the innocence of the daughter. The father doubts the wife's love affair, and he asks the daughter to confirm it. The daughter is really pure, so she does not know what happens in the house and whether the affair is good and normal or not. The innocence highlights the guilty of the affair and the adults. It was also funny to see the father's expression when he knows the truth and fact. I cannot forget his expression because his face is filled with agitation, regret, and confusion. I like this movie since the ending of this movie greatly tell short of my expectations. Finally, I cannot anticipate the end of the two people who do the love affair. I enjoyed the suspense, and I was attracted by it.

This is how short movies should be!

[hyphun · 11 February 2003]

This is how Short movies should be made!

I saw this one and i found it hilarious! It tells a very simple story, using only 3 locations, Four actors and less than 10 minutes on-screen-time, but it is better than the 24-hour crap they broadcast every day on television.

Fait d'hiver is funny and very well made, It very well deserves that Academy Award!!

Entertaining and successful film rendition of an old punch-line.

[Anonymous_Maxine · 8/10 · 8 March 2005]

This is just a wonderful, charming little film, despite also being dark and at times pretty creepy. I loved the performance of the little girl, not the least reason for which was because I have two sisters around her same age and their cuteness just floors me. It's odd that such a cute little girl would play such an adorable role in a film that includes full frontal (although very, very brief) nudity, as well as the deaths of two people (one of whom is the little girl's mother). Seems like it might have been a little disturbing, but I'm sure they made it a wonderful experience for her.

A man is stuck in traffic on his way home from work, clearly very stressed out from work and, even more, from the horrendous traffic that he is struggling to get through (which I can certainly relate to, living in LA), so he calls home on his car phone and his daughter picks up. He asks if he can talk to mommy, but the little girl says that she is "upstairs with Uncle Wim." He tells her to go tell mommy that he is right outside and will be in in a minute, and of course all sorts of mayhem ensues. Anyway, you know the plot.

What I found most interesting about the movie was the structure of victims vs. people who are to blame, whatever they're called. Anti-victims? The guilty parties, that's what I'll call them. The only victims in this movie are the little girl and the man stuck in traffic (I have sympathy for anyone stuck in traffic, unless I'm in the same traffic jam and they're in front of me. Then I hate them).

Sure, the man in traffic really caused the whole fiasco that occurs in the movie, but he really made an honest mistake and, rendering him a victim, has to live with it for the rest of his life. A simple wrong number cost two people their lives and a little girl her mother and, apparently, her uncle, with whom her mother was having an affair. Still not sure what to make of that little situation.

Unfortunately, the movie is really just a film version of that old joke who called home, talked to the little kid, asked for mommy, was told that she was upstairs with the plumber or the cable guy or Uncle Wim or whatever, and told the kid to go in and blah blah blah and they freak out and jump off the roof or fall down the stairs or whatever and die and oops it was a wrong number. It's one of those jokes that starts circulating around freshman or sophomore year in high school. Where I grew up, anyway.

But even though the subject matter is not very original, it still works very well as a quick little thriller, and the performances are outstanding throughout, even from the mother and Uncle Wim, who appear only very briefly. In a perfect world, there would also be a way to recognize the actors in short films, because I think that the man in traffic and the little girl both deserved recognition for their outstanding work, although for a seven minute film, an Academy Award is certainly a high honor. Definitely worth seeing, but I have to agree that This Charming Man deserved the Oscar over this one.

Very short and very hilarious

[Horst_In_Translation · 8/10 · 30 July 2016]

"Fait d'hiver" is a Belgian Dutch-language short film from 2001, so it hast its 15th anniversary this year. It was directed by Dirk Beliën and written by Johan Verschueren and it is still their most known (maybe only known) work 1.5 decades later. The reason is probably that it was nominated for an Academy Award, but lost to the Danish entry. I personally believe it would have been a deserving winner. I cannot say anything about the actual winner until I take a look at this one (again). but lets talk a bit more about this one here. This is a very dark comedic tale. A man is stuck in his car, calls at home and speaks to his daughter, who tells him that her mother is upstairs with "Uncle Wim". He tells the daughter to go upstairs and say that daddy is coming. And so she goes. I will not go anymore into detail about what happens next as you should check that out for yourself. It is pretty bloody though. But equally hilarious with the plot twist at the very end. I did not see it coming at all I must say. One of the best short films from 2001 for sure. I highly recommend the watch if you like dark humour as much as I do.

Foggy

[Polaris_DiB · 7/10 · 29 November 2008]

This bleak little comedy is set against the snowy, almost Gothic backdrop of Belgium, as a stranded businessman takes up his new cellphone to call his family, to similarly hilarious and tragic result. The atmosphere is interesting considering the rather melodramatic nature of the story, but what helps is the slow, careful narration of a little girl that reveals, slowly, the action that the audience can see but the businessman cannot. What's hilarious about that is that is how stark and contrasted the imagery from the house is, keeping it ambiguous as to if it's the imagination of the businessmen or the reality of the situation the audience is viewing. The twist reveals just which, and it's not what you are expecting.

--PolarisDiB

Surprising and Entertaining!

[foodie03 · 9/10 · 13 August 2017]

This short film is so interesting and surprising. In a night, a man is annoyed with a traffic jam, and then he is about to call home. A girl says her mother stays with an uncle Tom, who he doesn't know. As a scene goes, this film builds a tension and is in a control of our feeling. This film makes me thrilled. I'm hooked from the beginning to the end. In the end, the man leads a tragedy. It is fun to imagine that how the man would feel and what he would take an action after that. I think that it is a perfect ending.

Interesting!

[rika-31302 · 8/10 · 10 August 2017]

It's a well-made short film although there are some blemish points in it. For example, why can't the driver recognize his daughter's voice at first?

Anyway, we can laugh in the end because it is fiction, but it's really severe as you can see from the bad weather in it. Nobody can think we can kill someone with a wrong call unwillingly. We can also say that the couple who has an affair with each other has it coming to them like a kind of curse, changing the viewpoint.

I'm so curious about what the driver does after noticing the wrong call. If I were him, I would lose my temper and cause a car accident as a result, like a chain of death.

Nice short film

[ascardia · 5/10 · 28 November 2003]

Beautifully shot short movie that tells the story of a man getting stuck in a traffic jam and who makes a phone call home. That is what we see. Everything from that point gets mixed up. It is shot in winter with some snow covering truth and mistakes. Very well acted from the main character Tim. But the other actors are without depth and direction.

Funny yet messed up

[ultramatt2000-1 · 1 December 2003]

Not for kids. But this one shows a man (who is swearing in traffic), and asks his daughter how was everything going. And the daughter tells the new, thus getting him shocked, and kind of messed up. Creative, silly, and this one will get an R rating by the looks of it. How could this short from France get nominated an Oscar (even though it has nudity and gore, not to mention really strong language). Oh well, it is good.

Gimmicky

[madfoot-2 · 24 March 2003]

This movie was short n' sweet and very well made--it really showcased the director's skill. But I thought the premise was gimmicky and annoying. The little girl was very cute though! I've never seen such a cute little girl!