I heard faint rumblings regarding Arnaud Desplechin’s A Christmas Tale last year after I had already missed the screening; I’m not even sure it was even in Seattle theaters for longer than a couple of weeks. I wasn’t too worried though, “faint rumblings” typically indicate a quality film that won’t knock your socks off, and in those terms the French-language A Christmas Tale delivers, but through the eyes of others this one could be so much more.
The setting is kept simple as the film focuses on the Vuillard family during the winter holiday season. It’s the members of this family, both blood and by marriage and/or friendship, that complicate matters.
There is hardly a lead role, but the story revolves around the recent knowledge the Vuillard matriarch Junon (Catherine Deneuve) has been diagnosed with cancer and is in need of a bone marrow transplant from a blood relative. Such a scenario brings everyone to the Christmas table including Henri (Mathieu Amalric), the middle son who was banished from the family six years earlier. His story, along with the rest of the Vuillard family creates family infighting, adultery, compassion and then some and its presentation and your digestion of the material should make for a diverse number of reactions.
A Christmas Tale is presented with a wry sense of understanding as potentially destructive situations would typically lead to all-out anarchy yet are presented with a wink and a smile. The story could be looked at with melancholy and understood as a tragedy, or it could simply be looked at as a window into the life of a family dealing with an extraordinary situation in the only way they know how — and in those terms it could sometimes be called a black comedy. I can see different audience members each taking something different away from this film, perhaps even describing the film as something entirely unrecognizable to the person they just watched it with.
For me the two-and-a-half hours went by smoothly and with relative ease upon first viewing, however, the delayed finale limited the film’s impact and is cause for me to be slightly muted in my overall reaction. Desplechin holds his cards close enough to the chest that we expect a whopper of a closing act, but are merely served with an even toned conclusion much like the rest of the film. This isn’t a complaint, per se, as much as it was unexpected. Of course, “unexpected” in films is typically a good thing which has me anticipating a second viewing, but at this time it didn’t have me shouting from the rooftops.
Criterion’s Blu-ray presentation, however, is as good as you would expect in terms of audio and visual even though this isn’t exactly a visually rich feature. Desplechin seems more interested in technique with several homages as detailed by Roger Ebert indicate, but the transfer does benefit the several close-ups he uses, demanding a lot from his actors, all of which are up to the task. On that topic, my favorite moment is undoubtedly the voice over narration read by Amalric as Henri, reading a letter written to Elizabeth, the sister who demanded his banishment. Amalric is shown alone in a room looking into a camera reading the letter as we flash back and forth between he and Elizabeth reading the words. It’s a far more fascinating visual than to simply hear the traditional voice over that muddles up so many films — this one even has its fair share.
The supplementary material is quite limited for a Criterion release with a 36 minute making-of interview session with Deneuve, Amalric and Desplechin and a 66-minute documentary shot by Desplechin in 2007. There are also a pair of trailers (international and domestic) as well as the usual included 20-page booklet, this time with an essay by critic Philip Lopate.
The making-of doc is presented in English and didn’t manage to capture my interest outside of a few anecdotes here and there, but the documentary titled L’aimee was a joy to watch as Desplechin originally approached his film with an intent on documenting the sale of his family home, but it turns into an interview session with his father regarding his father’s biological mother who died of tuberculosis. It’s a touching family reflection and definitely worth a watch.
Most interesting are the two included trailers, which is never the case, but they service my point saying this is a film without a clear cut tone or perspective. The original international trailer presents a much somber tone and look at the film while the domestic trailer is far more light-hearted, often presenting the exact same scene with a much different feel. This is obviously a tactic to entice American audiences to go see the film, anticipating the idea a thought provoking drama is less likely to sell compared to a fun-loving Christmas comedy. Whatever gets them in the cinema I guess.
I wish I could preview both of them for you, but unfortunately I could not find a subtitled version of the international version online. So, you can watch the domestic version just above and if you’d like to get some idea of the international version you can watch it here.
Overall this is a tough one to put my finger on. If you already like the film it’s a no brainer pick-up, the presentation is superb even if the features are limited considering this is a Criterion release. However, it’s going to take a year or so for me to fully realize my opinion of this film. Will I return to it this December for another viewing? Will I pull it out next holiday season to explore it even further? I didn’t connect with it instantly even though I enjoyed it and as a result suggest you give it a rent before committing any of your hard earned dollars.
