A Christmas Tale (2008)

Movie
German title	A Christmas fairy tale
Original title	Un conte de Noël
Country of production	France
original language	French
Publishing year	2008
length	147 minutes
Rod
Director	Arnaud Desplechin
script	Arnaud Desplechin ; Emmanuel Bourdieu
production	Gilles-Marie Tiné
music	Grégoire Hetzel
camera	Eric Gautier
cut	Laurence Briaud
occupation
	Catherine Deneuve : Junon; Jean-Paul Roussillon : Abel; Anne Consigny : Elizabeth; Mathieu Amalric : Henri; Melvil Poupaud : Ivan; Emmanuelle Devos : Faunia; Laurent Capelluto : Simon; Chiara Mastroianni : Sylvia; Hippolyte Girardot : Claude; Emile Berling : Paul; Françoise Bertin : Rosaimée;

Christmas Carol is a French comedy - drama from 2008. The award-winning and critically acclaimed film was in the December 18, 2008 Switzerland published.

action

The whole family meets for Christmas in the house of the aging couple Junon and Abel Vuillard. Thanks to Father Abel's efforts, Henri, the exiled son, is also there this time. This Christmas is all about Junon's cancer. Your blood cancer is said to be defeated with the help of a bone marrow transplant. After everyone had had a histological examination in the last few weeks, only her 14-year-old grandson Paul and her unloved son Henri are considered donors. Junon chooses Henri as a donor. "It came out of my stomach - I only take what's mine" are her words.

Regardless of the holiday season, the old hostilities re-emerge. Junon's son-in-law Claude leaves after a fight with the choleric Henri. Junon's daughter-in-law Sylvia learns details of her husband Ivan's past from an old family friend, namely that he once persuaded his cousin Simon to give up Sylvia because he was so madly in love with Sylvia. She feels left out because she would have liked to decide for herself with whom to spend her life.

Henri's friend Faunia leaves the house before Christmas Eve - as a Jew, she is critical of Christmas. Simon leaves the family celebration on Christmas Eve to get drunk in a bar. All his actions and thoughts are focused on Sylvia. His life seems pointless without her. Sylvia finds him, brings him home and spends the night with him. This is not hidden from her husband Ivan.

The next morning Elisabeth complains to her father about her lack of zest for life. He sees the early death of her brother Josef, the firstborn of the Vuillards, as the trigger.

After the holidays, the transplant takes place. Against the advice of the medical staff, Henri visits his mother immediately after waking up from the anesthesia and is caring and encouraging towards her. Elisabeth's subsequent monologue shows that Junon's body has accepted the transplant well.

Background information

The filmmakers Arnaud Desplechin and Emmanuel Bourdieu were inspired by the non-fiction book La Greffe, entre biologie et psychanalyse by Jacques Ascher and Jean-Pierre Jouet.

The budget for the film was around 6.3 million euros. Revenues worldwide were just over $ 5 million. The filming locations were Paris , Lille , Croix , Roubaix and the cemetery in Tourcoing . In the university clinic of Lille, no agency-mediated comparses were used, but the staff actually employed there.

Trivia

The actresses Catherine Deneuve and Chiara Mastroianni are mother and daughter.

Film music

Midsummer Night's Dream - Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy
Lullaby - George Gershwin
Lyric Fathom - Blackalicious
Merry Christmas Baby - Otis Redding
Merry Christmas Baby - The M. Jones and Johnny Moore Orchestra
Domenico Scarlatti's Sonata K27 in B minor - Marcela Roggeri
Domenico Scarlatti's Sonata in B minor - Scott Ross
Love & Happiness - Julien Lebrun
Nisi Dominus - Regensburger Domspatzen
No Surrender - White & Spirit
I'm a good woman - The Generation
The big sleep - Gaspard Royant
King of Rock Bottom - Mr. J. Meideros
O Come All Ye Faithful - Mark Ford
Symphony Ad Sepulcrum - quintet under the direction of Anne Christine Leuridan
Lotus Blossom - Joe Henderson
Fleurette africaine - Duke Ellington
Ad Lib On Nippon - Duke Ellington
It's Been A Long Long Time - Brook Benton
It's A Good Woman - Ozen
Expectation - The Coal Aston Carollers
Hark, Hark! - Carollers From the Black Bull
Bulbs - Gil Evans
What It You? - Art Palmer Quartet
Air - Cecil Taylor
Vivaldi's L'estro armonico Opus 3 - Europa Galante
Gaude et laetare - Choir of Westminster Cathedral
Prince Zorro - Olivier Deparis
Hark! - Les Petits Chanteurs à la Croix de Bois
Ana Baashaq El Bahr - Nagat El Saghira
Raga Hansadhwani - Shiv Kumar Sharma
Oderjimi Jim - Novella Nikolaeva Matveeva

The background music was created by Grégoire Hetzel.

criticism

"In an expressive narrative style with extreme camera perspectives and breaks in the closeness of the fictional world, the unusual family drama unfolds a tragicomic, sometimes surreal, sometimes oppressively realistic universe, whose relentless but gentle tone the excellent actors fit seamlessly into."

- Lexicon of international film

“'Conte de Noël', however, has turned out to be a rare stroke of luck, where large acting registers completely unselfishly place themselves at the service of a director overflowing with ideas who knows how to reinvent the genre of the family touching piece for the screen with Shakespeare's force, verve and chutzpah . [...] Like a great jazz virtuoso, Desplechin experiments stylistically with shadow theater characters, slow motion, keyhole recordings and photo collages and underlines this creative chaos with the entire range of musical creativity. Those who risk so much and remain true to their inner values and emotions compass can still win a lot in today's cinema. "

- arte.tv

Awards

Broadcast Film Critics (USA)
- Nomination: Best Foreign Language Film

Cannes International Film Festival 2008 (France)
- Nomination: Golden Palm (Arnaud Desplechin)

César 2009 (France)
- Award : Best Supporting Actor (Jean-Paul Roussillon)
- Nomination: Best Supporting Actress (Anne Consigny)
- Nomination: Best Cinematography (Eric Gautier)
- Nomination: Best Director (Arnaud Desplechin)
- Nomination: Best Editing (Laurence Briaud)
- Nomination: Best Film
- Nomination: Best Sound (Nicolas Cantin, Jean-Pierre Laforce and Sylvain Malbrant)
- Nomination: Best Original Screenplay (Emmanuel Bourdieu and Arnaud Desplechin)
- Nomination: Best Young Actor (Laurent Capelluto)