A Christmas Tale

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Junon and Abel are the parents of three grown children: Elizabeth, a melancholic playwright with a mathematician husband and a tortured teenage son, Paul; Henri, the self-destructive black sheep, banished from family events by Elizabeth five years prior; youngest Ivan, the peacemaker, is married to the beautiful Sylvia and has two eccentric little boys; while a fourth--Joseph, the eldest--died from leukemia as a boy. When the disease reappears again in the family, all are tested to see who can be a donor, and then everyone--including lovesick cousin Simon and Henri's girlfriend, Faunia--return home for a long Christmas weekend. All crowded again under the same roof, solidarity quickly--and hilariously--devolves into feuding, drunkenness and bed-hopping, as everyone struggles to make sense of the mysteries of family, life, and what lies ahead.

Cast
Catherine Deneuve as Junon
Mathieu Amalric as Henri
Melvil Poupaud as Ivan
Chiara Mastroianni as Sylvia
Anne Consigny as Elizabeth
Emmanuelle Devos as Faunia
Samir Guesmi as Spatafora
Jean-Paul Roussillon (II) as Abel
Hippolyte Girardot as Claude
Francoise Bertin as Rosaimee
Azize Kabouche as Dr. Zraidi

Detail Info
Directed by Arnaud Desplechin
Produced by Martine Cassinelli, Pascal Caucheteux, Benoit Pilot
Writer Emmanuel Bourdieu, Arnaud Desplechin
Editor Laurence Briaud
Running Time 2 hrs. 32 min.
Release Date November 14th, 2008 (limited)
Distributors IFC Films
Country France