Neive Bellamy
Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.
Frances Chung
Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
Mandeep Tyson
The acting in this movie is really good.
richwgriffin-227-176635
I will concentrate on the wonderful cast of actors in this warm witty family comedy-drama. Sabine Azema plays a 42 year old woman who sings at a Russian restaurant/club - she's pregnant with her married lover's child. She's the eldest city and the most flamboyant. Emmanuelle Beart is the middle child, with the most money, a husband and children. She's the one who organizes events. The youngest sister is Charlotte Gainsbourg, who won a Cesar for her role in this movie - she's tough, neurotic, selfish, and fascinating. They learn they have a half-brother, played by co-screenwriter and son of the female director, Christopher Thompson. He's a wonderful actor as well as a terrific writer. he plays a sullen depressed man coping with the end of his marriage to the neurotic Annabelle, played by an unrecognizable Isabelle Carre. Claude Rich plays their father in a flamboyant dashing performance. Francoise Fabian plays the girl's mother. I just love french movie stars, because they take risks, and will play both leads and supporting roles in their long and varied careers.The music is wonderful. The direction - by Daniele Thompson - one of my favorite under-rated French directors (Avenue Montaigne is probably my favorite of her films)is first-rate. Just saw it again for a third time on TV5MONDE! (: Wonderful!
conedust
Saw "La Buche" last night. It's somewhat dull but pleasant and well-acted throughout. I enjoy the French tendency to feature artists and philosophically inclined persons as cinematic main characters (while we Americans get cops and the pugilistically inclined), and "La Buche" rewards on that level: the characters are lovely, intelligent, articulate and well dressed.Underneath the surface trappings, however, the movie doesn't have much to say. It's a tribute to emotional cowardice dolled up as a celebration of familial devotion - all in the guise of a Christmas movie. Which would be genuinely funny if "La Buche" were at all cynical about its own motives. As far as I could tell, it isn't. I gather that we're supposed to buy bad decision-making redeemed by absurd coincidence as evidence that true love will out in the end.P.S. I am beyond tired of the suggestion in French films that infidelity is the one true badge of masculine identity. Didn't this idea become boring in, oh, like, 1965?
Red-125
Only a French director would begin a Christmas movie with a funeral.This film, with its American Christmas song sound-track, is difficult to describe. It requires intense concentration to remember who is married to whom, who is related to whom, who has had an affair with whom, etc. (In fact, I am glad my wife and I saw this movie on VHS--we could stop it every so often and say, "Now which husband/daughter/lover/ wife is that?")The good news is that there is some outstanding acting by skilled French actors--Sabine Azéma, Emmanuelle Béart, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Claude Rich, and especially Françoise Fabian.The biggest problem I had with this film--other than sorting out the various pairings-- was that not one couple had a simple, loving, faithful relationship. Surely--even in France--a family would contain two people who love each other, are married, and do not cheat.If you accept adultery as a part of everyone's life, this movie makes sense. If you don't accept this, the plot grows tedious.This film is worth seeing for the acting, but not worth a special effort or special trip.P.S. Surprisingly, the director has chosen to play down the appearance of Emmanuelle Béart. In most films, she is obviously incredibly beautiful. In this ensemble film, Béart is portrayed as attractive, but no more so than the other actors. Whether this concept is a good one or a bad one will depend on your point of view.
pierfconsa
I was just reading other comments made about this movie, and they were so negative that made me want to try and say a couple of words to say that the movie is great, entertaining, interesting, funny, original. A perfect plot, mastered with capacity and played at perfection. If you want to see a movie that shows how the magic of life beats the magic of christmas, go to see the movie, and be ready to face entangled plots of lives humoristically interwined.
