‘A Christmas Tale’

The holidays, no surprise, always bring forth a surge of holiday-themed movies, but there has never been one quite like this. I know, nothing can sound more familiar, or more banal, than the subject of this film by French director Arnaud Desplechin, yet nothing could be more energizing, more captivating, more pure pleasure on screen. The story of a family Christmas weekend from hell starring Catherine Deneuve and Mathieu Amalric is the kind of film Hollywood would produce if it had the strength -- or the nerve.

-- Kenneth Turan