Arnaud Desplechin’s A Christmas Tale is a mix of emotions, personalities, soundtracks, powerful performances, and filmmaking tricks that masterfully encapsulates the cacophony that results from a reunion of so many people with so much baggage. Desplechin’s aesthetic keeps the audience constantly unsettled, riding waves of emotions that whip the audience back and forth amongst relating with his characters and rejecting them from scene to scene. It’s a fabulous work but not one without its problems.
While you and the characters in the film wondered about why Elizabeth hated Henri, I wondered why anyone wondered. The opening clearly explained that he was on the hook for financial malpractice and would rather go to prison than fess up prior to her bailing him out, and his behavior throughout the film establishes him as someone you wouldn’t want to have anything to do with.
I didn’t think Simon was a “successful” artist, but instead an amateur who works for a living in Junot’s dye factory.
While you and the characters in the film wondered about why Elizabeth hated Henri, I wondered why anyone wondered. The opening clearly explained that he was on the hook for financial malpractice and would rather go to prison than fess up prior to her bailing him out, and his behavior throughout the film establishes him as someone you wouldn’t want to have anything to do with.
I didn’t think Simon was a “successful” artist, but instead an amateur who works for a living in Junot’s dye factory.