Y aura-t-il de la neige à Noël?

Life in a French farm is as hard as in every farm in this world. As a matter of fact life is hard everywhere for those who have to work to make their own living. Mother Earth only yields its fruit if men work hard on it for that purpose. But beyond this men (and women)have their own problems and troubles in their mutual relationships. In this story we have a man who lives a double marital life. He's got his legitimate spouse in town with their kids but he's got another woman in his farm also with a lot of children she's got of him. Domestic conflict arises very often adding up to the harshness of farm life with all its uncomfortable features. The children are the noblest and purest element of the story with their innocence and purity. An in the end the snow falls on the fields like a symbol of purity of nature over man's misery and filth. The farmer's mistress looks at the falling snow through the window and she feels like if the snow were falling on her distressed soul too curing it of its deep wounds. This movie is filmed with utmost naturalistic simplicity in a documentary style with no background music. In conclusion we can say that if it is not a great movie at least it's a movie which tells us a story of true and real life in a very realistic way I mean a film that doesn't lie to us.

Almost irredeemably dull. This movie reeks of subsidy, but not just the European Union Common Agricultural Policy kind. Would this film ever get made on a purely commercial decision basis? I doubt it, because it is "worthy" only because it covers rural poverty. It is not entertaining. It is not innovative. It is not great art. It is simply "worthy". But not, in my opinion, worth investing two hours of your life into seeing. Will it send you to sleep? It did that job for me.

A real document of the life on a farm in southern France. The kids are playing so good, as if it was their life what they play! The feeling of the real life is also underlined because there isn´t film music. You have the feeling as if you are looking a documentation.

Thank you to viewers who stayed to the end, that's what the credits say!

It is true that some people left the house after twenty minutes. I have felt amazed, puzzled, wondered, what a beautiful movie! What a strange movie to!

Usually the screenplay, or the director, takes the spectator in consideration and explains to the viewers what it is all about. Not here: suddenly, you are in this farm, people live their lives, don't seem to realize you are there, they work and play and toil, and laugh and cry, and you are still there and you have to make it up for yourself. And you would like so much to be in the screen with them, and talk to them and try to help, and love them, and... and.. and.. And you are hot in the summer and you are so cold in the winter when she picks cabbages (or is it celeriac?) If I refer to Pierrot le Fou, it is because I have not seen anything so different and so catching since.

Thank you, thank you for such a beautiful movie. I'm so glad you ran out of gas!

First movie made by Sandrine Veysset and launched a week prior Christmas in 1996, "will it snow for Christmas?" was rewarded by the Louis Delluc price in 1997 and it was a beautiful commercial success in France. This commercial and critic success was partly deserved.

The director Sandrine Veysset draws an engaging description of this family who lives in a farm located in the south of France and whose living conditions aren't always easy. She shows compassion and tenderness for her characters and notably towards the mother. She also manages to making them engaging towards the spectator. As for the father, he's a violent and hateful human being. In short, he's a total trash and however, I think he never falls into the caricature. Sometimes (although it rarely happens), he can show a touch of humanism and kindness.

Moreover, "Will it snow for Christmas?" is a film without plot and where nearly nothing happens. However, you aren't bored because Veysset succeeds in arousing the spectator's interest and making the work sequences gripping.

In spite of these qualities, "Will it snow for Christmas?" also includes certain weaknesses and unlikelihoods, especially with the mother, how could she have seven children with a man she hates? Moreover, work in a farm is quite hard especially for young children but in the movie, they don't seem to suffer a lot even if they complain from time to time. You can also judge the last sequence as a convenient and a bit syrupy sequence.

Even if "Will it snow for Christmas?" isn't a perfect movie due to an important number of faults, it remains watchable.