AFI FEST 2008: A CHRISTMAS TALE

It is not the season

By John Esther

AFI honoree Arnaud Desplechin’s latest film features last year AFI honoree Catherine Deneuve as Junon Vuillard, a matriarch who has been stricken with a strange genetic condition. The three generations of Vuillard family have gathered for the holiday season for what may be Junon’s, if not the family’s, last time together.

A high classed film about a high maintenance family this 150-minute ensemble piece co-stars Mathieu Amalrio, Melvil Poupaud, Chiaro Mastroianni, Jean-Paul Roussillan and Anne Cosigny.

(A Christmas Tale screens Nov. 2, 6:45 p.m.; Nov. 7, 7:30 p.m., at LACMA.)

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