Arnaud Desplechin’s whirlwind dramedy doesn’t fully reject Christmas joy, but it does give the undersung holiday traditions of dysfunction and discomfort their time in the spotlight. Starring a formidable French cast, this festive film’s thorny exterior makes way for little glimmers of tender hope.
Some 18 years after Cold Water, Olivier Assayas revisits his own autobiography for this deeply-felt yet unsentimental drama: a rear-view look at his adolescence in the aftermath of May 1968. A poignant portrait of a generation in mourning, coming-of-age in the face of failed revolution.
Following his Edith Piaf film La Vie en Rose, director Olivier Dahan turns his attention to another 20th-century cultural icon. Playing Grace Kelly during her transition from Hollywood star to European princess, Nicole Kidman burnishes the staid traditions of the biopic with a welcome hint of camp.