Synopsis
Family Resemblances (Un air de famille, 1996) is a French comedy directed by Cédric Klapisch — watch it online on iFILM. The whole film takes place in one restaurant, over one birthday dinner, and within the first thirty minutes it becomes clear that the pleasantries are the thinnest possible coat of paint over years of accumulated resentment.
Jean-Pierre Bacri plays the family failure — the one everyone has quietly given up on. Catherine Frot is his wife, done with keeping up appearances. Jean-Pierre Darroussin is a family friend caught in the crossfire. Agnès Jaoui rounds out the group. Bacri and Jaoui wrote the screenplay together — the same partnership that later produced The Taste of Others and Look at Me. Klapisch had previously staged the original play before adapting it for the screen.
What makes it work is the economy: one room, one evening, no escape. Nobody is let off the hook, not even the ones you're supposed to feel sorry for. It's the kind of film that gets funnier the more family dinners you've actually survived. Stream Family Resemblances (1996) on iFILM.
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