Synopsis
A Christmas Tale (Un conte de Noël, 2008) is Arnaud Desplechin's French family drama, available to watch online on iFILM. For the holidays the Vuillard clan gathers under one roof for the first time in six years — and harmony is the last thing on the menu.
The reason is grim: matriarch Junon has been diagnosed with leukemia, and her best hope is a marrow transplant from a blood relative. So people who have spent years avoiding one another sit down to the same Christmas table. Eldest daughter Elizabeth once had her brother Henri banished from the family; now the black sheep turns up with a new girlfriend in tow. Younger son Ivan arrives with his wife and kids, and there's nephew Simon too. Old grudges, jealousy and everything left unsaid surface between the toasts.
Desplechin assembles a who's-who of French cinema: Catherine Deneuve as Junon, Mathieu Amalric as the volatile Henri, with Anne Consigny, Chiara Mastroianni and Emmanuelle Devos. The result is sharp, funny and quietly aching — a portrait of a family where love and resentment refuse to come apart. Its long run plays out like one big, loud holiday night that never quite settles. Stream A Christmas Tale (2008) online on iFILM.
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