In Competition: “A Christmas Tale” by Arnaud Desplechin

The first French film to be screened in Competition at the 61st Festival of Cannes is director Arnaud Desplechin’s latest, A Christmas Tale. Desplechin is a Festival habitué. His first film selected in Competition was La Sentinelle (1992); next came Comment je me suis disputé… (ma vie sexuelle) (1996) (My Sex Life… Or How I Got Into an Argument); and Esther Kahn (2000). In 2003, Playing ‘In the Company of Men’ screened as an Un Certain Regard selection. Desplechin was one of the Cinéfondation and short films jurors in1998.

This year, Desplechin is back, with a choral film centered on the family and the complex bonds weaving each member into an inescapable web. Indeed, the Vuillard clan is riven by ancient fraternal grudges. When Junon, the mother, learns that she has a rare genetic disease, all her kinfolk, brothers and sisters, cousins, nieces and nephews, are reunited at Christmas to face the ordeal…

"When tragedy befalls a family, it disorganizes everything," Desplechin notes. "But the Vuillard family already seems dysfunctional, right at the beginning of the film. Disorder added to disorder, oddly enough, eases the tensions somewhat. But I don’t think there is a family pathology. It would be hard for me to see things so darkly."