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Un conte de Noël (2008)
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Overview
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Release Date:
21 May 2008 (France)
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Plot:
The Vuillard family is no stranger to physical/mental illness, loss, and banishment. But when the matriarch becomes in need of a transplant, the whole family is forced to come together, emotional baggage and all, just in time for Christmas. full summary | add synopsis
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Awards:
2 wins
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14 nominations
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NewsDesk:
(94 articles)
Favorite 100 Movies of the Decade (#100-76)
(From FilmExperience. 9 January 2010, 10:47 AM, PST)
Decade: Arnaud Desplechin on “A Christmas Tale”
(From indieWIRE - People. 25 December 2009, 6:20 AM, PST)
(From FilmExperience. 9 January 2010, 10:47 AM, PST)
Decade: Arnaud Desplechin on “A Christmas Tale”
(From indieWIRE - People. 25 December 2009, 6:20 AM, PST)
User Reviews:
No Compelling Reason to Spend Time with This Particular Family
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Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| Catherine Deneuve | ... | Junon | |
| Jean-Paul Roussillon | ... | Abel, Junon's husband | |
| Anne Consigny | ... | Elizabeth their oldest child | |
| Mathieu Amalric | ... | Henri their middle child | |
| Melvil Poupaud | ... | Ivan their youngest child | |
| Hippolyte Girardot | ... | Claude - Elizabeth's husband | |
| Emmanuelle Devos | ... | Faunia, Henri's lover | |
| Chiara Mastroianni | ... | Sylvia - Ivan's wife | |
| Laurent Capelluto | ... | Simon - Junon's nephew - the painter cousin | |
| Emile Berling | ... | Paull, Elizabeth and Claude's son | |
| Thomas Obled | ... | Basile, Ivan and Sylvia's son | |
| Clément Obled | ... | Baptiste, Ivan and Sylvia's son | |
| Françoise Bertin | ... | Rosaimée, Abel's mother's girlfriend | |
| Samir Guesmi | ... | Spatafora, the family friend at Roubaix | |
| Azize Kabouche | ... | Doctor Zraïdi, the oncologist |
Additional Details
Also Known As:
A Christmas Tale (International: English title) (UK) (USA)
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Runtime:
France:150 min | USA:150 min | Argentina:150 min
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2.35 : 1 more
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Fun Stuff
Goofs:
Continuity: When Faunia introduces herself to Abel in the foyer, she takes off her glasses and shakes his hand. In the very next shot, as Abel is greeting Henri, she removes her glasses again.
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Movie Connections:
References The New World (2005)
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FAQ
Did Abel cite Kant's "Vorrrede" to the "Kritik de reine Vernunft"? If so, till what part??more
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An overly long and incredibly too talky dysfunctional family drama about a clan reuniting for one Christmas to see which if any family members will have bone marrow that's compatible with that of the matriarch, played by a chilly Catherine Deneuve. She's dying of a rare kind of cancer, and the spectre of that eventuality plus the proximity of brothers and sisters who haven't seen each other for a while and have scores to settle puts everyone in a reflective mood. Unfortunately for us, they stay in that mood for nearly three hours, and they talk and talk and talk endlessly about it.
There's far too much plot, some of it quite banal, some of it very interesting. The film is well executed and acted, but it's also distant and cold. I never felt vested in anything that happened to these people, and I greeted the ending with the curiosity of one who has spent a lot of time with something and simply wants to finish it rather than with any real concern for what the ending would be.
"A Christmas Tale" falls into the trap of too many family dysfunction dramas: We all have our own families to deal with in real life, so if we're going to spend 2-3 hours listening to the petty whining of someone else's, it better damn well be worth our time.
Grade: B