Opening downtown on Xmas: lots of choices, but none a clear-cut Harry Potter or Lord of the Ring winner (or even a Catch Me If You Can--a Spielberg film opening on Xmas? Oh, my people were out in force that day!). Mostly what my son-in-law calls sad-bastard movies: The Reader (the Holocaust is a good Xmas picker-upper; besides, I just read the novel and didn't love it, and the reviews have been pretty weak); Doubt (another good holiday-spirit mood: did the priest boof the young student or did he not? revs haven't been good for this, but I'll see it--but not on Xmas); Valkyrie (a plot to kill Hitler; a feel-good Xmas movie only if they succeed; plus: Tom Cruise); The Spirit (which they've added since the last time I checked: hot Scarlett in a pulp-comic book flick might be fun, and I liked Sin City, but I don't want to put all my chips on it); and Ha-Sodot (The Secrets), which I do want to see, but not on Xmas. And then there was Benjamin Button. I read a novel this year that was exactly this plot and was disappointed in it, and the trailer hasn't erased my skepticism; still: Blanchett and Swinton, so I was assuming I'd be in, barring terrible revs. But I was too skep. to bank on it for Xmas. Which left the already open Slumdog and this one. Initially I thought, gotta go Slumdog on Xmas: probably not great, but at least a feel-gooder. But I changed my mind late, deciding that certainty of quality trumped non-sad-bastardness.
In any case, it meant no Xmas Eve film, 'cause then I would be banking on one of the Xmas openers. And then yesterday I checked Rotten Tomatoes.com, where Button is getting a stunning 89% in early reviews. True, one of those is by Rex Reed, but still . . . So Conte today, Button tomorrow. Geez, it's hard being me. You want to hear my dinner plans now?
Un Conte de Noel (A Christmas tale)
Crit
Wow. Am I getting squeamish in my old age? I still watch the needle go in when I give blood, but there were some penetrative medical procedures here that that gave me some serious willies.
As I recall, the reviews I've read of this take at face value that Junon (Catherine Deneuve) and Henri (Mathieu Amalric) don't love each other, but I read their relationship as much more complex than that. I don't think a mother and son can so directly and good-naturedly exchange declarations of indifference without sharing an understanding that they might not call love but that functions much like that emotion.
In any case, this is one of those subversive French films that delights in giving American audiences hints to glom onto that the final scene will be one of tearful reconciliation between mother and son, between sister and brother--I mean, hell, it's got Christmas in the title, doesn't it? Well, I can guarantee that my audience was not left unsatisfied by the lack of a pat ending, since I was it.
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So . . . did you like Un Conte de Noel? Didn't you think it was a marvelous movie about bravery? Did you notice that for all the family gathering, you almost never see any food? Didn't you think Amalric's short sharp speech was a blessed relief after those multiple interminable feel-good speeches in Rachel Getting Married? In my book, this is a stand-up-and-cheer film, sort of in the same way as Bad Santa.
Well, yeah, Bad Santa's the obvious connection, only with less anal sex. Yes, I did like it--was that not clear? I might have stood up and cheered had there been anyone else in the theater to influence. But what I remember from Rachel is also squirmily uncomfortable toasts--had you taken too many Xanax that day? As for the food, they're French: they don't actually eat food, they just philosophize about it.
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