Holiday treat directed by Arnaud Desplechin as much a magnet for powerhouse cast Deneuve, Mathieu Amalric, Hippolyte Girardot, Melvil Poupaud, Chiara Mastroianni and Emmanuelle Devos as it was for praise by US critics. Almost indecently satisfying – Scott, NY Times Smart, outrageous and a real treat – Turan, LA Times Improbably funny and very beautiful – Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal Like getting to know a family not your own by leafing through its scrapbooks and laughing at its photograph albums, while it bickers in the next room over stuff you may never understand. –Lane, New Yorker If Ingmar Bergman and Wes Anderson some how collaborated on a movie together, I'd guess their sensibilities would yield something like A CHRISTMAS TALE –Lumenick, NY Post Out of the most ordinary ingredients - an ailing mother, estranged adult siblings, a good meal ruined by bad behavior - the endlessly inventive French filmmaker Arnaud Desplechin has made the old look fresh – Schwarzbaum, EW
