Ma saison préférée

The images from this movie lingered in my mind for a long time. Both Deneuve and Auteuil deliver magnificent performances for those who prefer their films subtle and their acting nuanced. Those with 5-second attention spans shouldn't bother.

Interesting but somewhat cryptic family-dynamics saga presented with characteristic French warmth and some charm. Daniel Auteuil plays a brain surgeon in love with his big sister (Catherine Deneuve). Apparently he has been pining away for her for decades since they are now middle-aged. She's no longer interested in sex, and he apparently never was, since he never married and lived alone. Meanwhile mom, who loved him best, can't live alone anymore because of fainting spells, and so goes to live with Deneuve and her family. But that doesn't work out and Auteuil won't or can't take her in, and so they send her to a nursing home, which she hates. All this occasions brother and sister to spend some time together. They recall with fondness their childhood; and when she breaks up with her husband, little brother rents a nice apartment for himself and her, all the better to live happily ever after.

Well, what a tease. That really doesn't happen. After a bit Deneuve gets seduced by a very aggressive and anonymous intern which reawakens her sexuality and makes her realize she can't live with her brother. And so she leaves him. He breaks into her house in an attempt to get her back....

I think Director André Téchiné did a good job with what he attempted, but could have attempted more. The cast is good, especially Marthe Villalonga as the mother and Deneuve, who has aged well. It's amusing to see that the cool and stately actress is still being sexually abused by the French directors for the audience. I wonder what they would have done if, instead of Hitchcock, et. al., THEY could have gotten their hands on Deneuve's cinematic American soul sister, Grace Kelly. It would have been interesting to see Grace Kelly in, say, Truffaut's Mississippi Mermaid (1969) with Jean-Paul Belmondo instead of Deneuve. Or, how about Grace Kelly as "Belle de Jour"?

But I digress.

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Once again I was watching a Téchiné film and found myself gaping with amazement at how terribly well the dialogues are written, and how incredibly well it is all acted (by Catherine Deneuve and Daniel Auteuil, which, I suppose, doesn't need any further explanation, but the others are also all excellent in their roles). Every single sentence is like a strike of the hammer on the consciousness of anyone who has experienced dysfunctional family life - and I think I'm not the only one.

What is more, after I went to bed, the thoughts just kept coming, unfolding from one another, leading to interrelations between the people, the situations, the conversations and also to conclusions, some of which might not even have been intended, but still fit perfectly into the mosaic of the film, because the director had a perfect vision and created a world that functions on its own.

It is a very atmospheric movie. It is artistic, but not in the abstract way - it's as down to earth as possible, as grounded in reality as it can be - and anyone who has been part of such a family will realise this instantly. It does suggest things, but then it also claims them, but in a language that puts into words the unsayable. Things get said out loud; still, it never sounds didactic or threadbare. It just portrays what IS; it never judges - as it is showing exactly how impossible it is to judge any human behaviour, when there are so many unseen forces in play behind it. And the real mystery is how on earth the film avoids being depressing... But it's Téchiné's secret, and I'm glad he has it.

I have never seen the complexity of human feelings and family relationships told so realistically, yet so sublimely before. If you only like action-packed blockbuster movies, this is definitely not for you. Otherwise, I can only recommend it, and it's a perfectly round 10.

Anybody who has a sister/brother will recognize oneself in one (or more) of the likeable characters. IMDB's keywords for the movie are "brain" and "relationship." If you prefer not to bother with these notions, you might want to skip that movie indeed. But you will miss a very human piece of art.

This is a film that centers around dysfunctional family life, however, it is not about incest as one viewer suggested.

Catherine Deneuve plays Emilie, an emotionally detached middle-aged woman who feels like she losing her grip. She's a lawyer, as is her husband, Bruno, but there is no love left in their marriage and her two nearly grown up children are estranged from her.

A crisis sets off a chain of events in her life. Her mother, Berthe, is having fainting spells and the doctors feels she shouldn't be alone at her country home, so Emilie invites her to stay with her family. No one is happy with the arrangement. Bruno resents her presence, and both he and his daughter think everyone in Emilie's family is crazy.

Emilie's brother, Antoine, a fussy little brain surgeon played by Daniel Auteuil, is invited by Emilie for Christmas Eve dinner. He doesn't get along with her family and soon an argument breaks out when Berthe tries to get her children to sit still while she discusses her will. Antoine leaves with his mother, to take her back to her home, and Emilie leaves after a bitter argument with Bruno.

The film follows the developing relationship among this circle of people. Everyone is wrapped up with their own lives and extremely possessive. No one really knows how to reach out to another human being.

We learn that Berthe and her husband were simple country folk - she never learned how to read - who only wanted what was best for their children. Berthe tells them their father only wanted them to be "modern." But modernity has its price.

Both the children are too busy with their own lives to take her in when she suffers another fainting spell, so she is placed in a rest home and begins to deteriorate. Antoine doesn't recognize that she's suffered a brain lesion because of a stroke - this is supposed to be his specialty, but he can't see what's right in front of him. Emilie's law practice centers around personal estates, but she has a hard time connecting with her own mother.

After the funeral, the whole family gets together at Emilie's old home and sits outside for a meal. They begin to talk and show more friendliness towards each other than in the past - Bruno even invites Antoine to sleep the night over. The title from the film comes from the last snippet of conversation when everyone confesses what their favorite season of the year is.

This is a fine film that explores adult relationships. It's rather candid and not as histrionic as, say "Ordinary People." The acting is well-done - Catherine Deneuve continues to age extraordinarily well - and the scenery of rural Southwest France is stunningly pastoral.

Because of its drab subject matter, this one might not appeal to everyone, but it's a very good movie and I recommend it.